Growing Pains
by dellia53
Summary: Edward and his step-siblings, Rose and Jasper, move back to Forks after a couple years away, hoping to take back their place among the elite. When Edward and the new "it" girl, Bella Swan, are thrown together, sparks fly, but at what cost? AH, AU
1. Cullen, Bleh

BPOV

I knew something was coming... more so, _someone _was coming. I had been hearing about it since June...so really there was no way that I couldn't know about the monumental event. Especially, being reminded every five minutes - it was like my own personal Google alert, but about something that I couldn't care less about. Cullen this, Cullen that, - I swear if I hear that damn name one more time I'm going to literally vomit. Now even my dear best friend Emmett couldn't stop going on about how Cullen and the rest of the clan were coming back to Forks.

I could hear the building excitement in his voice, "Can you believe it Bella, they're coming back!" If I was going to sit through _another_ ode to the greatness of the Cullens I was going to need a stronger drink.

As I lounged across my ridiculously lavish and comfortable bed, I retorted, "Honestly, I couldn't give a shit. You, and everyone else in this fucking town have been going on about how the freakin fantastic Cullens are coming back. No offense, but I wasn't here when they left, so forgive me if I'm not worshiping the ground they walk on."

"Jeez, come on Swan. You know them," he casually threw back at me, stretching across the teal chaise lounge.

"Just because you pointed out this Cullen kid once while they were visiting last summer and you talk to him on the phone, like every day, doesn't mean I _know_ who he is. The way you're acting I would think he's your boyfriend or something", I snorted back in a half laugh.

"No, princess. Although, I think a lot of guys around here would probably go gay for Cullen", he sweetly smiled and batted his eyelashes at me.

He paused, waiting to see if this had registered with me...apparently it had not, because he continued making sure that I had made the conenction. "Alright, look, your parents are dear friends with Edward _Cullen's_ step-mother, Esme _Hale_ Cullen. She married Edward's dad, Dr. Carlisle _Cullen_....are you following me thus far?" He looked over at me, waiting for my response. I slowly nodded my head, only partially paying attention and trying not to wince at every fucking exaggerated Cullen comment. "Esme's been one of your mom's best friends since they've basically been in diapers. You're friends with her children....Rose and Jasper....they're twins, in case you forgot and in case you didn't put two and two together, they are also Edward's step-siblings," he continued - I was further getting annoyed with his little breakdown of the players in the Cullen household. "Have you literally not listened to anything your mother has told you?"

"I listen..." I started to say, defensively, while taking a swig from my glass, "it's just, sometimes I get a bit distracted and tend to tune out."

I looked into my now emptied martini glass, making sure here was nothing left before continuing, "And I haven't talked to Rose in forever. We just kinda lost touch when she came to live with her dad. And then when I finally knew she was going back to Beverly Hills, I came to this." As I finished, I stretched my hands out like a _Price is Right_ girl showing off a new car, with some disgust in my mouth.

"Come on, it isn't that bad - you like Forks. It's not like you are living in a box on the street," he said as he rolled his eyes at me searching for his drink on the floor.

"Might as well be," I said as he threw a pillow, hard, at me.

I've been living in Forks since my freshman year of high school. My parents insisted we move back to where things were simpler and as they say, "not so flashy" - even though they are the ones who loved every indulgence LA had to offer. Both of them grew up here; they were high school sweethearts, both coming from, let's just say financially secure backgrounds. Both found Forks too boring for them when they were younger and after college married and moved to LA, where my father was and is a big time real estate developer and my mother, a very successful artist/actress - they now spend a lot of time jetting back and forth between the two cities. They both indulged me in whatever my little heart desired, i had what I wanted, when I wanted it. I _had_ the life everyone dreamed of - the Hollywood parties, the famous friends, I was THE it girl...and then, they moved my ass here.

"You live in the biggest estate in Forks, shit!" he said again rolling his eyes at me. "Well, I know you've been _slumming_ it since you got here, but you've been having a fucking good time. We might not have any of the fancy Hollywood premieres and clubs, but we've got everything else and plenty of it."

Which was true; Forks mostly did have all the same things that LA did, except for the nightlife and the shopping, which I missed. Now, I have to actively plan a trip to get new clothes, instead of just hoping in the car and driving down to Rodeo or Melrose. People made things to do here, since money wasn't really a problem for most. Whatever anyone wanted, it was taken care of and quickly. But I really did miss actually going out, instead of just going to someone's house.

I threw the pillow back at him as he closed his eyes about to take a sip of his seven and seven, "Second biggest now, stupid Cullens taking all my glory," I said with the most sarcastic tone I could muster.

"Oh, such a tough life you're living. And you almost spilled my drink, so not cool!" I flashed him an angelic look, which automatically meant I was off the hook; no one could hold a grudge when I did that. I played up my innocence when I needed to and always got away with it. "Like your living the toughest life on Earth; all you do is sit around, getting fucked up, and fucking whomever you like," I retorted.

"I know," he said with a sly grin on his face, "I love my life. I'm not the one complaining." And he did; he enjoyed every minute.

Emmett ruled the school, star quarterback, prom king, homecoming king...you name every distinguished stupid title a high school could give out and he had it. He and Alice were what you would call the elite of the elite; they were at the top of the top of the social hierarchy - everyone wanted to be them or wanted to fuck 'em. When I came to Forks High, they readily welcomed me into their group, which was apparently hard to get into. It used to be Cullen, Alice, Jasper, Rose, and Emmett, but when his dad married their mom and moved away, I filled one of those coveted spots; the others have yet to be filled, but have been attempted by many.

"Bella! Your fucking phone is going off, again, I'm sick and tired of hearing that damn _Milkshake_ song playing over and over again. Call Alice!" my dad yelled from downstairs.

"Shit," I said to myself, "I'll be right down to get it dad, thanks."

I signaled Emmett to follow, but he was too comfortable or drunk to get up from where he was sitting, so he just laid there. I walked down the rosewood staircase that opened into the foyer searching for my phone in my Chanel. It was all the way at the bottom, so by the time I finally found my phone, it had stopped ringing. Three missed calls, what's so important? I headed back up the stairs, dialing Alice in the process. "What's goin on, why'd you call me a million times?"

I could almost hear the gears turning in her head, making sure that she only called me three times, "Just for the record, I only called you three times, not a million," she clarified.

"Stop being so fucking literal, what's up?" I responded, laughing a little at how she got so bent out of shape over the smallest things.

"Welll," she answered, "as you know, I'm having my annual pre-pre-first day party, and you and Emmet aren't here yet. So, I was wondering... where the fuck are you?"

All of a sudden it dawned on me. "Shit! I totally forgot , we'll be there in 20! I'll drag Emmett's ass up and well be there asap. See you soon bitch!' I hung up the phone and briskly walked up the stairs, just not too fast, though, seeing as how I already had two and a half martini's since I woke up and no breakfast. "Emmett, get your ass up, we have Alice's party, which we were supposed to be at, like, an hour ago. So, get up, your blocking my closet since you moved my damn couch so you could see the TV better".

He looked at me, then the time, and didn't move, "You know the party doesn't really start until we get there, so what's the hurry?" he replied causally.

"Well, I told Alice we'd be there in 20, so let's go."

She had always been there whenever I needed her, at the drop of a hat, since the first day I moved to Forks. We were instantly inseparable, so I always felt bad when I wasn't there when I told her I would be. If it were anyone else, including my own family, it wouldn't have mattered if I were late and I wouldn't have cared, but since it was Alice; I felt guilty.

He still didn't move, so I attempted to push the couch, but it took all of my weight to just move it an inch. He laughed at my lack of strength. I glared at Emmett, and this time he finally got up; moving the couch with ease so I could at least get into my walk-in closet. Show off. I scanned my closet searching for something appropriate to wear. I wish I had one of those outfit chooser computers, like the kind Cher had in _Clueless_. I would love that! I made a metal note to ask mom to see if they actually make those and try to get one for Christmas. I finally found what I was looking for, a barely there royal blue bikini and a bright yellow eyelet button up shirt. I belted it in the middle, making it into a makeshift dress, and buttoned the middle two buttons, leaving everything else open.

I could see Emmet attempting to watch my reflection in my mirror, but I didn't care, let him get a peak. I knew he was always interested, but nothing ever really happened. Well, nothing that I really thought counted - some drunken kisses and groping when we were younger, but nothing more. I looked in the mirror. The dark blue looked great against my alabaster skin and the cut of the bikini highlighted my 34Cs. I took the braid out of my hair, making my shoulder length, dark brown hair look like I had just gone to the beach giving me some waves, put some mascara and lipgloss on, grabbed my Dolce aviators and headed out - dragging Emmett with me on the way.


	2. Welcome Back

BPOV

"Damn, it took you long enough to get here, I thought I was going to have to call a search party on your asses!" Alice yelled bouncing over to us. She handed us our designated drink: Em, a seven and seven and me, a Patron margarita - it was a barbeque after all.

"Sorry Alice, I totally forgot and I left my phone downstairs when I went to get him," pointing at Emmett.

"Yeah, it's totally her fault. I kept telling her that we needed to leave for the party and she just kept drinking and lounging around on the bed," he said attepting to give an innocent smile, which just came out looking mischievous instead. "What?" shrugging and then giving Alice a big bear hug.

Alice smiled, clearly already a little buzzed. "No worries. And Em, the new meat is by the pool, in case you were wondering. My parents made me invite them," sounding somewhat annoyed by this, "some new girls who want to try out for the squad. Apparently as captain I have to entertain the idea of anyone who wants to try out. Today, I have to play nice..."

Alice was the captain of the cheerleading squad and all around student body enthusiast, always involved in student government and planning social events. She was always trying to get me more involved, saying it would be good for college application, but I could care less. I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about a lot of things, especially sports and student activities. I _tried _acting the part, to keep up appearances, but also, for my friends' sakes. I was always well liked, but I never really went out of my way to be extra friendly to anyone unless they were in my inner circle; I was always just pleasant enough for the girls to like me and didn't have to do much for the guys to be at my beckon call - thank you genetics!

"Is there anyone good?" he asked scoping out the outside patio.

"Good enough for a quick fuck or a drunken one night stand," she replied.

I quietly laughed because I knew this was how Alice really was. Everyone else thought Alice would never say anything like that - that she was a good girl, through and through... when, really, she was the one everyone should be cautious of. She would be an angel to your face, then as soon as no one was looking the horns and the pitchfork would come out. With one wrong move she would end you - not literally; well at least there's no proof of that.

"One of the girls is Emily and the other is Leah, fuck if I know which is which, though. I believe they're juniors, but I could be wrong," she said pointing in a general direction.

"Well, as _captain_ of the football team, I better go check out the new prospect," he said fairly cocky and beginning to strut. "We can't have any butterfaces on the sidelines. Let's see who'll be under me in my backseat during lunch on Monday," he said with a wink and was off.

"Have fun," I yelled back.

I looked around as well, but there was no one of interest; it was mostly the same people I have been looking at for the last three years, with a few new faces scattered in the mix. Today was just the obligatory welcome back party Alice's parents made her throw every year to get to know the student body, in fact that was how we met. My parents made me attend three years ago, so that I would at least know one person on my first day. I walked in the door and Emmet was the first person who introduced themselves to me. He was all over me that afternoon, trying to get me drunk and blatantly flirting. He challenged me to a drinking contest, claiming that I couldn't match him shot for shot. I bet him I could, which he readily accepted. Stupid fucker, I easily beat his ass. He bet that if I lost, I'd have to blow him, while I bet him, that if I won I would control who he was allowed to fuck for the entire year. Stupid Emmett, underestimating my abilities, and really only thinking about instant gratification. I beat him fair and square and that poor guy was at my command; the entire year, the only ass he got was from the ugliest bitches I had ever seen and he had to okay it with me before he proceeded with anything. Ever since Alice had seen that display, we were instantly friends, impressed that I had the balls to do something like that on my first day there. Emmet has been looking for ways to get me back for that ever since.

"So, you're going to bring Rosalie, right?" Alice asked me, casually waving at a couple girls from the squad.

Tomorrow was the real party, though, it started late and was invite only. All the new blood and underclassman were hinting at invitations, but few would probably make the cut. It was standard that all those who had been previously invited automatically got an invite, including those who were recent Forks alum. Alice was finally getting to host the party at her house after three years of strategically maneuvering herself into the position of host, blocking off anyone else who attempted to take her title. Hosting always went to a senior and usually those in the highest social circle. So really, there was no one else in contention to hose the event except for Emmett and I, and neither of us were willing to take this away from her. It was never a formal event - it was all about exclusivity. Only those who fit the criteria of being popular, wealthy and beautiful were invited to the party - if you didn't have all three, you usually were not invited. Unfortunately, once an invitation was given, it can't be voided, no matter how much you dislike a person. This party established your social standing for the rest of the academic year. If you were here, you had made it to the top and had a standing invite to the rest of the best social events of the year; if not you were lucky if they'd let you into the parking lot.

I glanced up at her, mixing the ice in my tumbler, "I wasn't aware that I was supposed to bring anyone."

"I mean, I just figured that you would bring her since you guys were friends and all. I mean, I'm bringing Edward - more like I have to - you know familial obligation and everything. And I know Em's bringing Jasper, so that just left Rose out."

Edward? Oh yea, Cullen. I forgot that only Alice really uses his real name since they were cousins. "Do they even really need to have someone bring them? Didn't they already get invites when they were freshman before they moved, so technically they could come on their own. You know everyone is already looking forward to them arriving, like they are the second coming or something."

"Yes, they did get invitations, but they moved away before they could actually attend the party, so those invitations were voided, so they really don't have an automatic invitation. You know, it's not me, it's the rules. Rules will be rules, I didn't make them up," she said matter-of-factly, "they were passed on. Just because I'm hosting the party doesn't mean that I can just do whatever I want."

"So technically, they shouldn't even be coming at all since they didn't get invites - if we're going by the 'rules' that is," I said becoming irritated that Alice was now making a big deal about them coming.

"Bellaa..." Alice said, exaggerating my name and giving me her signature look which meant that I was going to lose my discussion. "It's their welcome back party....well kinda, but we still have to stick to the rules".

I sighed to myself, you would think that this was some sort of secret society the way they all carry on about this stupid party with strict rules, tradition, and invites. "Well Alice, I believe that since you are the host, you can do whatever the damn well you'd like, it is your party," I tried to impress on her and giving it my last attempt to keep it just the three of us, but I knew her reaction. For someone who did whatever the hell she wanted the majority of time, when it came to tradition, she always stuck to the "rules".

"They're coming, period. Just fucking bring her, you know you're going to do it anyway, so just stop bitching."

"Alright, do I need to dress in a black robe and bring the blood of a first born too?" I said sarcastically, but she was not amused. "Ok, ok, whatever you say master."

As I finished speaking, I put my hands together and bowed to her, like you see genies do it in the movies, which thrilled Alice to death. We both giggled and headed off into the patio to make nice with all the new students.


	3. Greetings and Salutations

EPOV

I glanced around the darkened room, which was littered with votive candles and strategically placed white Christmas lights. Not much had changed since last summer when I had been in the Brandon house. Japser and I walked in together, looking around at how everyone had, developed, yet still looked the same. The house was packed with current Forks students and recent alumni; I remember how they always used to love coming back to the kick-off event of the school year, something about graduating and being in college gave them a sense of superiority, though some had only been out of high school for a few months. I could sense eyes on me, following me, but I was used to it - most females, regardless of age, looked at me and this room was no different.

"Come on Edward, move your ass, you've got to at least appear to be interested in getting to know people, again," Alice quipped as she grabbed my arm dragging me across the room. I signaled to Jazz for help, but he had found Emmett who was introducing him to some girls I hadn't seen before, and who were clearly drunk. They were most likely some random girls, either of them would never give a second glance to, but they were good enough for the night, or at least for now.

"Alice, let go! I will go wherever you want, just stop dragging me around, you're going to tear my jacket," as I snatched my arm away from her, but giving her a small side hug signaling that I wasn't mad. For all the crazy and moronic shit my cousin makes me do, I just go with it; for some reason I can never turn her down. She's one of the only bright spots in this stupid move back to Forks, I had been perfectly content with staying in New York, but no, we had to move back. Luckily, I was still close with Emmet too, so it wouldn't be that bad. In fact, most people treated me like I didn't leave, just came back from an extended vacation or something. I followed Alice around, saying hello now and then, but mostly was silent - no one here really held my attention, except the people I was already friends with, so what was the point. Alice kept making her rounds when Rosalie stopped at the kitchen counter to make herself a drink.

"So, how's the party going for you?" Rose asked me, not particularly interested, sipping her drink, and leaning up against the granite kitchen island. I knew the only reason she was talking with me, is because she too was thinking the same thing I was, that she really didn't want to socialize with any of these people, but she definitely showed it much more than I did. She thought she was above everyone: she was better looking than most and knew it, and she was _slightly_ arrogant about it. Before we left she had been the reigning queen of Forks and in Beverly Hills and New York she had a similar persona.

I took another swig of my drink and sighed, "Bored. It's the same as before, nothing has really changed."

"Well, some things have changed," she said annoyed, glancing slightly to her right. I followed where she was looking, apparently Rosalie was no longer the "it" girl of Forks, which isn't surprising, we have been gone for three years.

"It was bound to happen Rosalie, you did leave, it's not like people were going to build a shrine commemorating you," I could see her smile at the vision of the imaginary shrine and then frowned when it wasn't actually true. "Besides, I'm sure in no time you will reclaim your title."

She cheered up a little to that comment. "I suppose that's true. After tonight everything will be back to the way they should be and really, I don't mind sharing _some _of my spotlight with Bella." she said with resolution.

"Wow Rose, that's a big step for you, thinking of others and suggesting you can share the spotlight," my comment dripping with sarcasm.

"Fuck off Edward, I can be a nice person when I want to be - it just so happens that the majority of the time I don't want to be. You tend to draw out the bitch in me" and walked away, heading towards Alice and...Bella, I suppose. I didn't know much about Bella, aside from that she was very close with Alice, Emmet, and Rosalie. And from the looks of it, I wasn't going to find out more tonight, something was going on with her and some guy I couldn't see, they were too far away.

"Well hello Edward, how are you liking being home so far?" Jessica Stanley asked deliberately positioning herself so that I could see directly down her shirt. We have known each other since we were young and on occasion had been known to hook up, in fact she gave me my first blow job. She wasn't bad to look at, just a bit stupid for my taste, but with each sip from my drink she looked better and better.

"It's been alright," I said flashing a small crooked smile and slightly closing the gap between, "the transition from New York to Forks has been a little tough".

"Well, if you ever need any help with," she paused and looked up at me," readjusting, let me know. I would gladly help out," she said giving me a lingering kiss which I willingly accepted. It had been a while since I had any sort of female contact and I was becoming more and more horny, especially since the move. The kiss began to intensify, I slid my arms around her waist pulling her closer to me, when I was slapped in the back by someone.

I instinctively turned to see who had just fucking hit me. "Well, you don't waste any time do you? This is your cue to leave Stanley, I don't think he'll ever be _that_ drunk."

"We'll see, he might be," she said, not really understanding that she just made fun of herself. She made some comment under her breath and left.

"God, she is stupid," Alice hissed. She never could put up with Stanley, even when we were younger.

"I thought you were supposed to be keeping up the appearance of being nice? Aren't you thought of as the angel around here?" I asked Alice a little annoyed.

"Whatever, she's trashy and possibly a little retarded. I don't want her to be the first person you fuck since you've been back; you have no idea where she's been," she said with a giggle. "Besides, it's my party and I can do whatever I want. And, this also wasn't my idea, so technically it's not my fault; you can thank my partner for this," pointing to her left.

"You fucking cock block! You really are a dick" I said as Jacob Black came out of the shadow laughing his ass off. "Just to be clear, I was not the one who hit you, that was all Jake," Alice said and then turned towards Rosalie, who had called her name and signaled for her to come over.

"What the fuck are you doing here, I thought you were too good for Forks?" he asked with a smug grin. Jake was a year older than me and for the most part got along. We were always on the same team for little league and then lacrosse when we got older, so we had always been around each other. We were friends, but really not out of choice, it was more since we were around each other so much, there was really no other choice but to get along.

"The same could be said about you, aren't you supposed to be at Princeton right now?"

"It's still summer break, dumbass. I'm here for a couple more days so I figured I'd come tonight and slum it with the rest of you who have school tomorrow, and I need to tie up a few loose ends." I wondered what he meant by that. He continued without hesitation and bothering to explain his last comment, "Remember, don't get too fucked up tonight, going to class with hangover isn't the best way to start your first day back," he said sarcastically and reached for the rum bottle to replenish his drink.

"I think I can handle myself without any advice from you," I said flatly. As soon as I finished saying that he reached out and grabbed some girl on the arm pulling her roughly into him, which wasn't surprising; he claimed he didn't know his own strength around girls, but after seeing him interact with girls in New York when we were both out, I doubted that was the truth.

She was pretty...very pretty actually, but that's not surprising, Jake always goes for the same type: pretty, skinny, small, brunette, and stupid - generally the complete opposite of the girl I usually go for. Really, if I wasn't related to Rose I probably would have already fucked her, she was exactly my type - tall, blonde, absolutely gorgeous, and intelligent, but now that was just disturbing and wrong. He reached out and put his arm around her waist, possessively and then kissed the side of her head. She didn't look too thrilled to be there. "This is my girl Bella. Bella, you know Cullen right?"

"Um, only in theory. So you're the one everyone's talking about? Welcome back," she said dryly and a little annoyed.

"You can be a little nicer you know Bells," he said starting to slur his words and trying to lean in to kiss her.

"Yeah, I can," she said through her teeth, moving her head to avoid his kiss and breaking away from him, "and you can also not be so fucking drunk, but doesn't look like that's going to happen. Just let go of me Jacob." She moved, so that both of us were now facing Jake.

"You know Bella, I don't need your fucking attitude tonight, just stop being such a bitch in front of someone you don't even know." I could see him getting more upset, not because he seemed to actually care about her feelings, but because she was making him look bad in front of other people, well, mostly me.

"Jacob, your drunk and you don't own me. I can do whatever the fuck I want," and she did. In that moment, she pushed him out of the way, walked over and pushed some girl out of Emmet's lap, sat down and kissed him, hard. He was livid, again not over the fact that his girlfriend went over and started making out with another guy, but because this tiny little girl just showed him up and he couldn't do anything about it. "Fuckin bitch!" he groaned, grabbing the bottle of rum and headed out the door.

Rose and Alice had apparently seen this display and came over to find out some more information, but I really couldn't say anything because I wasn't really sure I knew what just happened. It all happened so quick, I wasn't sure exactly what to tell them. Alice went over to Bella, Emmet, and Jasper to see what happened and Rose stayed besides me, "Well, that's Bella Swan in case you were wondering."


	4. Ignore, Ignore, Ignore

Disclaimer: Twilight and all characters are property of Stephanie Meyer

BPOV

First day back, fan-fucking-tastic. I looked in my closet to decide which accessories would go best with the stupid generic uniform they made us wear here. A point for Harvard-Westlake, which is where I would have gone if I had stayed in LA. It was cloudy again, big surprise. This was yet another point for LA; there it would be a comfy 70 degrees, while here, we'd be lucky if it didn't rain. I've been doing this recently, assigning points to where I thought I might have a better senior year through looking at the challenges I was faced with on a daily basis and giving points to the winner, so far LA: 2, Forks: 0.

I stared back into my closet, again, hoping for some inspiration. It looked cold outside, so I decided my crimson pea coat paired with Louboutin black patented-leather platform pumps and my matching YSL tote, which was too big for daily use, but perfect for school necessities like books and notebooks. I proceeded to my vanity to finish getting ready.

I heard a soft buzzing from my bed, signaling my phone going off. I was expecting Alice to call giving me directions to Rose's place, seeing as how I was picking her up for school today, but it was Jacob instead. Ignore. I wasn't going to be bothered with him today, especially after how he treated me last night. The phone went off again, him again, this time I just let it ring and went back to getting ready. I put on my green and blue plaid skirt, the official colors of Forks High, threw on the white oxford shirt, which I left untucked, and headed down the stairs to grab some breakfast.

"Morning princess, how was the party last night?" my father asked me as he handed me some juice.

"Nothing too eventful, pretty much the same. No one seemed particularly interested in going back to school, " I answered casually.

"Did Rosalie like the party? Were the kids nice to her?" my mother asked me as she came around the corner carrying the newspaper.

"Mom, she lived here before, remember? She knows everyone better than I do." My mother was a great person - energetic, entertaining and the life of the party, but her one flaw was that she is bit flighty.

"Oh yes, you're right. I always forget that she lived here with her father when she was younger. Well anyway, did she have a good time?"

"I think so, she seemed to be making the rounds, letting everyone know that she was back. I think she and Alice decided that they were going to be co-captains of the squad last night, so I guess that's a good thing," I said munching on some toast.

"Please tell me you will not be joining the squad again, even though both your friends will be on it" my father asked me. He and I were very similar in our viewpoints, especially on the issue of cheer: he thought it was a complete waste of time and that I would be better served with some other extracurricular activity, much like I do. Neither of us were big on school pride and liked to keep to ourselves; my mother, on the other hand pushed me to do things that wasn't in my comfort zone. My freshman year she made me decide between being in the school play or doing cheer, I thought cheerleading would be the lesser of two evils, but I was massively wrong. After that year I swore to never put on that polyester/spandex blend suit from hell ever again.

"Oh you were cute as a cheerleader Bella! You should join!" my mom said with enthusiasm, the former cheerleader in her coming out.

"Mom, we've already had this discussion, hell will have to literally freeze over before I put on that fucking thing again."

"Here, here princess."

"Bella, language at the table," both my parents said at the same time.

"Sorry," I said quietly and reached for another piece of toast.

"If you're picking up Alice and Rose you might want to get a move on or you're going to be late for school. I'm heading down to LA later today, so I won't see you until this weekend. Any messages you want me to pass on to your brother, we're going to be getting together at some point this week."

I thought for a minute, if there was anything that I really needed to say I could always pick up the phone and just call. "Um..could you tell him to get me a couple jerseys for the game? I'm pretty sure Emmett wants one and so will Alice and Rose, they wouldn't want to be left out." Mike was a sophomore at UCLA and we were heading down to watch the big game between them and USC in a couple weeks. "I think that's it though, if there's anything else I'll just text him. Thanks dad. Gotta go."

"Alright, I'll see you next week. Oh and you have a little surprise waiting for you in the driveway - think of it as a first day of school present," I heard as I climbed up the stairs.

I scrambled back up to my room to put on my shoes and coat, grabbing my bag and phone. I instinctively dialed Alice's number to find out where I would be going first.

"We're going to be late. You better get me first so I can direct you myself because you tend to get lost when you are trying to follow directions. " I was going to say something back, but she was right, I was awful with directions.

"Ok, I'll see you in a few. Bye." I clicked my phone off and threw it in my bag. I reached the bottom of the stairs and took the key that my mom was holding out to me.

"Very nice first day of school outfit," my mom said to me like I was still 5 and on my way to kindergarten.

"Thanks mom," I said rolling my eyes, "You know you didn't have to get me anything, and I love my old car," I told her as we both walked out of the front door into the driveway.

"I know we didn't have to get you anything, but we figured with the start of your senior year and all the crap you've been dealing with, and with Jake, it would be nice to get you something," she said with a genuine smile on her face.

I ignored the Jacob comment, there was nothing to deal with or at least nothing for them to be concerned about. "Don't worry about it mom, everything really is fine," I began to say until I focused on the car in front of me, which I guess would be my new car. It was the car I had been drooling over for the last month or so since I had randomly seen it on a trip to LA, the new Cadillac Provoq in black. It was beautiful. "Oh my god, thank you mom!" I squealed and gave her a hug. "I can't believe this, I didn't think it was even out yet."

"Well, thank your father, he's the one who got it. Anyway, you better go and you're welcome! Have a great day at school sweetie."

***************

"I can't believe they got you this, you spoiled brat! I'm jealous," Alice sighed as she reached over and began programming the various radio stations. "Make a right... HERE!" she exclaimed.

I jumped as she yelled at me, at 7:30 in the morning, and instinctively clutched the wheel making a sharp right, feeling a little like a racecar driver. "You know, a little prior warning would be nice. I don't need to get into an accident the first day that I get the car," I sarcastically threw back, taking some deep breaths in order for my heartbeat to go back to normal.

"Stop worrying, I was just seeing the handling of the car- pretty good for an suv," she said nonchalantly, this time playing with the seat warmers and pressing buttons that had labels which I didn't understand. "Ok, I'll slow down for you," she paused and then began talking extra slow, like I was mentally challenged. "Another right, and then a left and then you just pull into the driveway, the gates should open up when we get there."

"I'm not stupid, I understand what you're saying," I answered back, flashing her an annoyed look. The emergency light came flashing on, I swatted her hand away from the dashboard, "Can you stop playing with things while I am driving, please, I don't know what the buttons do - for all I know there might be an eject button in here."

"Oh come on, live a little. And I just happen to know that this model doesn't have an eject button, that's a special upgrade," she giggled with a wink.

We pulled up to the massive iron gate which had the Cullen 'C' gilded on it. The gate swung open and I cautiously drove up the long driveway. From the outside the estate looked very similar to mine: lots of trees and a huge lawn leading up to a long stretch of driveway which turned into the massive garage. The one thing that they had that I didn't was a lavish fountain in the turnaround area - it was actually very serene to watch. I parked and waited for Rosalie to come out. Alice picked up my phone so that she could call her to come out.

"Wow, apparently Jake really wants to talk to you this morning," she said with an inquisitive look. "What exactly happened last night?"

I stiffened a little at the mention of his name and hissed, "Just call her so we can leave."

"Ok, ok...." she began dialing "Hey, were outside, come on out. Oh... yea, I guess that isn't problem, there's plenty of room," and she hung up the phone.

I looked curiously at her, "Plenty of room for what Alice?"

She tilted her head to the side innocently, "Well, I guess something's wrong with Edward's car, so they are gonna come with us. That's fine, right?"

I sighed, knowing that she already told Rosalie that is was ok, "Yea, I guess."

"Come on, it will be fun!" she said optimistically. "Think of it as a favor to me."

"Why is it a favor?" I asked a little confused. "It really isn't a big deal, were all going to the same place anyway."

She scooted closer to me, like she was about to tell me a secret even though we were the only ones in the car. "Well, while you were in your tirade with Jacob last night, I decided that I was going to fuck Jasper. And the first step to that is hanging out more!" she said resolutely.

"Um, does Rose know about this, I don't think she's going to be too happy with you fucking her twin brother."

"Well, who made her queen of the world? She doesn't have to know and it'll only be a onetime thing, you know?"

Right as she finished her sentence the door swung open and Rosalie plopped in, "A onetime thing for what?"

Alice gave me a pleading 'please don't' tell her yet' look. I quickly tried to search for something to tell her to save Alice's ass, "Umm...a onetime thing of going to dinner with my brother and his new boyfriend when we go to the football game at the end of the month," surprised that I was actually able to come up with something that quickly. Now, all she has to do is buy it.

"Oh, yea that sounds like a lot of fun. Your brother has the best taste in guys, from what I remember, it's not a big deal." She bought it, phew! Alice looked over and silently thanked me.

We were still waiting for Jasper and Cullen to come out, so Alice saw it as the perfect opportunity to find out more about last night's events. "So, are you planning on calling or texting Jake back, he's called you 6 times in the span of an hour and has text you twice. One says 'I'm sorry about last night, I didn't mean it' and the second says 'I know you're on your way to school but could you at least call me back'. Oh and another one is coming in right now, it says, 'Have a good first day back, call me when you have a break'."

Can't he freakin' take a hint that I was annoyed with him? "Needy much?" I snorted back.

"So, what's up with you and him Bella; it looked kinda serious last night."

I opened my mouth to answer when the door swung opened and Edward and Jasper slid into the car. "Good morning ladies," Cullen smoothly announced.


	5. Beginnings

Thanks for the reviews guys! They're awesome. Keep 'um coming, I love hearing people's opinions and ideas! :)

Here's the next chapter

EPOV

Bella and Alice mumbled a hello back but it was pretty obvious that Jasper and I had interrupted something. Then, there was silence, no one was saying anything. Rose stared out the window, Alice was playing with the radio and Bella was tense, seeming extremely focused on the road ahead, I wonder if they were talking about us. Whatever, I was probably just paranoid.

"This is Bella's new car, her parents gave it to her this morning, " Alice blurted out, knowing she couldn't stand the tension or the silence, even if it was only a minute.

Bella looked a little more relaxed after Alice made the first comment, breaking the silence barrier. "Well, congrats. It's a pretty sweet car, your dad must have some connections because this isn't' supposed to be out yet" Jasper commented.

"Thanks, yea, that's what my mom implied" Bella said with a half smile I could see from the rear view mirror. "It was totally unexpected, but it probably means that my parents are going to be away for a while or something. They always feel guilty when they have to leave on business, so this must mean something big is in the works."

"Well, they are coming to the game right? That's at the end of the month, so they can't be away for too long" Alice asked

"I think so, neither of them had said anything about it. I figured if they weren't going they would have said something already." What game were they talking about? Not that it mattered, really, it wasn't like I was automatically invited just because she was giving me a ride to school today. Besides, it was probably just an annual family trip or something, but I was curious though.

"Well that's good then, it'll be like a family reunion, well plus the three of us," Rose interjected.

She was invited? I could see Alice, they were really close, but Rose? She's only been here one day, even if they were friends before. I know I wasn't in the right to be upset over not getting an invite, but it slightly bothered me...well, maybe a little more than slightly bothered. I glanced over to Jazz, who seemed to be half asleep, bored by the topic of conversation I guess.

"Yea, it should be fun," Bella said slightly enthusiastic, but there was more there that she was trying to cover up. "So, did you have a good time at the party last night?" I could see her eyes looking at me from the rear view mirror, apparently that question was directed at me.

"It was alright, I'm not big on reunions." Which was true; I would have much rather spent the night with Jasper and Emmett just fucking around instead of Alice dragging me through the party making me say 'hello' to everyone. "But, Alice insisted on a formal re-introduction," teasing glaring at Alice.

"Rules are rules Edward."

"You know how she's a stickler for them for other people, but when they apply to her, she miraculously forgets all about them," Bella teased.

"You all are going to thank me one day for it, just you wait," as she crossed her arms like a child.

Bella abruptly stopped the car, pulling into the parking space and awakening Jasper with a sudden jerk who grabbed Rosalie's leg to try to stabilize himself. No luck, since he was only wearing the seat belt that crossed across the lap he doubled over, his head nearly missing the middle console. Fucking hysterical!

Bella tried to stifle her laugh, opening her door and looking back, "Oh sorry, I'm not used to the car. I didn't know that it would break that hard."

Japser looked over to her, a bit winded, "It's alright, no harm done." He followed Rose out and searched for a cigarette.

I shuffled out of the car reaching for my bag, "You might want to put your tie on or at least have it out," Bella said facing me and holding my tie out - it must have fallen out of my bag. "You'll get in trouble, especially the first day, if you don't have it." She hesitated, then moved a little closer to me, hesitated again, and finally slipped the tie around my neck letting it hang open. I was caught off guard, not expecting her to actually put it on me. For that moment she was so close I could smell her hair, coconuts, it was nice, comforting even.

"Thanks," I said looking down, a little embarrassed. This was odd, I never get embarrassed, especially over something as trivial as this. I don't know why I felt that way, it was nothing, just a nice gesture and obviously wasn't a big deal for her, but it felt weirdly intimate - like something my mom or Esme would do to dad before he went to work or an event. Now, trying to sound a lot cooler and less embarrassed than my initial comment, I ran my hand through my hair, "I'll try to remember that for the future."

"No prob," she turned to catch up with Alice and Rosalie. I looked over and found Jasper standing with Emmett over by his car, who looked like he's just arrived.

"Cullen, you planning on standing there for the rest of the day just looking like a dumb ass?" Emmett shouted across the parking lot.

"I'm coming, don't get your panties in a bunch," I responded walking over to him and glancing down at my watch. Class was starting in five minutes and Jasper and I still didn't have our schedule of classes. "We better head into the office to pick up the schedules Jazz," taking his cigarette away and stealing a drag for myself. I'm not a big smoker, but occasionally I'll light up or steal a hit.

"You might want to put it out before we get to the office," Emmett said casually, picking his bag so that we could go.

"What are they gonna do, expel me?" I said with a mischievous grin on my face.

"I forgot, the impervious Cullen was back. Nothing will ever happen to you," he said lightly pushing me to the side.

"What can I say, it's good to be me." I flicked the rest of the cigarette and walked into the office leaving my tie the way Bella had left it.

***********************

My first two classes were fairly boring; the usual first day back bullshit - going over the syllabus, making sure everyone had the correct books, and going over who was in the class. I had Emmett and Alice in Lit, my first class, and Jasper and Emmett in Calculus, which would prove interesting for the Mr. Adler the rest of the year. If the first day was any indication of how things would progress for the rest of the year, we were going to dominate that class; there was basically no way for him to control the three of us together and it didn't' help that we seemed to knew more about calc than he did.

Third period, French, super, no one was in that class. Even though both Rose and Jasper spoke French perfectly, mostly due to their French au pair when they were younger, both refused to take the class thinking that it would be beneath them. Instead they opted for Italian with Alice and Emmett, who sucked at languages, stuck with Spanish. Calculus was right next door so I was one of the first there. I walked in, finding a desk towards the middle of the classroom; since no one was really there yet so I had an open selection of seats.

Students started to trickle in one by one. I watched them, trying to decide where to sit and if it was alright for them to sit next to me. It was pretty funny, a lot of girls would stand close to my desk, pause, and then see if I would make a motion to signal them to sit down or not. Mostly I did nothing, I just sat observing. At one point I had an itch and scratched my head, which some girl took as an invitation to sit down. As it got closer to the starting point of class, people began just looking for open seats and started sitting wherever. There was one open seat left by me when Bella walked in, I motioned for her to come take the seat. Stanley was also walking in at the same moment too and must have figured I was motioning to her. She walked over quickly, but tried to make it appear nonchalant.

"Thanks for saving me a seat," she said with a flirty smile, dropping her bag.

"It's not," I coolly answered back.

"I believe that's for me. Move." Bella stated rudely and sat down in the seat, kicking the other bag away from the desk. Stanley was staring her down, Bella didn't flinch, she held her gaze almost daring her to do something with her eyes - there was clearly more to this than just a seat in class.

They stayed there looking at each other until Ms. Foster flashed Stanley a 'take your seat look'. "Fine. You win this time Bella," picking up her bag and moving to the nearest open desk, but not before she flashed her a dirty look.

"Thanks for the seat Cullen. You provided some entertainment for the morning; it was beginning to get pretty boring, " she said disregarding the fact that class had started.

It was weird having her call me Cullen, a lot of people call me that, but this time it just didn't' feel right. "You know, you can call me Edward."

She subconsciously bit her lip, looking hesitant, but then nodded her head in agreement, "Alright, Edward it is. So what's your schedule look like?"

"Not too bad, pretty much the same as it would have been in New York. And someone is in at least one of my classes, so that's always good. I thought I was going to be fucking abandoned in French, cause no one takes it, but surprise, surprise," with a slight inflection in my tone.

"What? Scarred you'd have to make some new friends? Have to go out of your comfort zone," sarcasm oozing from her voice.

I stared back at her, "It doesn't look like you go too far away from your comfort zone either. It doesn't look like you like to hang out with the commoners," not missing a beat.

"Touché'." She reached down and took out her phone beginning to text someone. She stayed like that for a while, playing with her phone in-between responses to someone.

Ms. Foster walked between Bella and I, staring down at her, "Miss Swan, am I interrupting you? Would you mind if I continued with the class?" distain and annoyance in her tone.

"No, you aren't bothering me, you can continue with class. I don't mind at all," not even bothering to look up from what she was doing and in perfect French.

Foster continued to stare at her, but when she saw that she wasn't getting anywhere with her and knew that she couldn't do much in the form of punishment just walked back up to the front of the class and continued on with her lesson plan.

We didn't speak much for the rest of the class, but her phone repeatedly kept going off, which was pretty damn annoying. At the beginning, she was replying to texts, but gradually stopped. She looked like she was becoming increasingly irritated with each vibration her phone emitted until she finally threw her it back into her bag.

"Um, everything ok?"

"Yea, its fine," she said abruptly yet furrowed her brow a bit. "So, what's your next class?" her tone softening but seeming like she was trying to distract herself.

"History, I think," looking down at my schedule to make sure, "Yours?"

" Psychology."

"Oh, I think Emmett has that class too."

"That's good then," she said disinterested or not really paying attention to me, I couldn't really tell. As quickly as she had zoned out, she zoned back in, "So, are you big on sports too, like your bff?" she asked tilting her head back and looking towards the ceiling.

Bff? She must be talking about Emmett. "I'm not big into sports, like Emmett, but I play lacrosse." She looked oddly at me, then shrugged, then returned back to gazing at the ceiling.

"Are you actually any good? Most of the guys around here think they can play just because they've been playing since they were little, but usually they just suck," she asked with skepticism.

I was taken aback and slightly offended. I wanted to say 'look bitch, I'm fuckin All-American', but refrained figuring that by saying that things would not end well. "Yea, I'm good," was all I could muster without sounding like an absolute dick about it and showing the irritation in my voice.

"I guess we'll see." Again with the fucking skepticism.

"Do you do anything?" asking irritated.

Foster looked over at us, giving us a cough, which was supposed to be a signal to shut up, but it didn't work. Bella just looked at her and then continued the conversation, "If you're talking about cheer, fuck no. I don't do that shit, I've got better things to do with my time." She glanced to the right of her, directing her comment to Stanley and making sure she heard. Stanley rolled her eyes and tried to focus her attention on Ms. Foster to tune Bella out.

"So, if you're too good for cheer, what do you do?" annoyance still in my voice.

"I'm the head of the philanthropy committee for the school and Alice forced me on as the secretary of the social committee since she is student body president and the head of that committee as well; so I have to go to meetings. She'll probably put you on that same committee too, just a heads up because Emmett is on it and I'm assuming Rose and Jasper will be on it by the end of the day too."

So she does do something, and it is helpful to the community, so I can't really give her shit about that. "Well, thanks for the warning I guess."

"Yea, whatever," glancing at the clock and putting her things in her bag. I took my cue from her and began putting my stuff away as well. The bell rang and she was out without even a 'bye' or a nod.


	6. Text Wars

Disclaimer...SM owns all things Twilight...I'm just adding my own twist :)

BPOV

I got out of that class as quickly as possible, the more I talked to Cullen - I mean Edward, I guess, weird -the more annoyed I got. I guess he didn't really do anything in particular to bother me, he was actually quite pleasant and I was having a decent time, but he just kept reminding me of _him_. The person I did not want to talk about, think about...really anything about.

Psych would be a nice change; it's something that I'm actually interested in for once and should challenge me. The rest of my classes are just dull and boring, and really not that difficult; they're the mundane college preparatory classes which supposedly will get you into college. That, or a hefty donation from your parents. Either way, I would be fine. I could see Emmet coming out of the bathroom, face and nose slightly flushed, must be time for a coke break.

"Hey Bells, where are you off to?" he asked much too enthusiastically and rubbing his nose.

I sped up slightly to catch up to where he was standing, "Psychology, with you I presume." He looked a little confused, "I'm psychic, didn't you know?" trying to hold in my laugh. An even more confused face, he really needed to lay off the blow or at least cut back, it was messing with his head. "Edward told me".

"Edward? You're calling him that now?"quite perplexed. Shrugging, he slid his arm around my shoulders and began walking, well dragging me while he walked, because my legs weren't moving as fast as his were. "Oh, that makes more sense. Hey..." a flirty inflection in his voice and eye-fucking some girl who was walking the opposite direction we were, "what are you doing later?" stopping us both in our tracks. Luckily, he was holding on to my arm because he stopped pretty abruptly while I was continuing to move; I would have tripped if he weren't holding on to me.

She stopped, clearly excited that he was talking to her. "Hey" the girl giggled back. She looked like a freshman or a sophomore, not that I really care or can tell. "Um...nothing yet," trying to flirt back by twirling her hair around her finger.

Now was my chance to have some fun. "Baby," I said in a soft and seductive voice, "I thought we going to do something later? You promised," pouting a little and reaching around his waist to pull him closer. It was always fun to fuck with Emmett when he was trying to get some, and this was more amusing than usual because this girl had no idea that we weren't really a couple. I turned my eyes to the girl, rolling my head onto Emmett's broad shoulder, "You could always join us though, if you were up to it," a mischievous smile across my face, "we're always looking for one more."

The girl had no idea how to react to this. She stood there, a little confused, she probably wasn't sure if I was being serious or not, "Well....I..."

"You didn't answer fast enough, so sorry. You can run along now, your services are no longer needed. Thanks." I patted her on her head and made a scoot sign with my free hand. She just kind of stared at me. When she saw that my face hadn't flinched and then looked at the clock, realizing that she would be late for class, she began to move. "Now, that was fun!" finally feeling better from my hellish morning.

"You know, you can be such a bitch. Not that I mind. I actually think the idea of you, me and that girl is a very good idea," he said entertained and continuing to walk to class. "But you know, I don't really appreciate you interfering with possible," giving him a look, "opportunities. The bet is over, you don't get a say anymore," scrunching his nose and sticking his tongue out at me.

"I know, but that doesn't mean I won't interfere when the opportunity presents itself; you should know that by now. That was just too much fun." We both laughed. It was a little mean and the girl looked scarred shitless, so I made a mental note to do something nice for her, or at least not interfere next time Emmett tries to fuck her.

We strolled into the classroom just barely missing the late bell and taking our seats. The class was an elective, meaning that it wasn't as full as all of my other classes - so even though we came close to the bell, there were plenty of open seats together.

"Ok everybody, I want you to turn all the desks into a circle; this is how we're gonna conduct class most days," the teacher asked. She was new, there were lots of rumors going around about her. My favorite thus far was that she was a lesbian and had killed her husband because he found out - I doubt that one was true. What was probably true was more mundane and sadder, that she came to Forks, from some college where she was a professor, because her husband had just died and she wanted to get distance - this was Forks, not even here a full day and everyone knew everything about you, true or not, without wanting them too. Point LA, three to nothing, not lookin too great for good ol' Forks right now. "I'm Dr. Leonard, in case you all didn't know. I originally taught at Syracuse. My core class was motivational psychology. " I was actually interested in what she was saying, surprisingly, usually at this point I'm tuned out or busy on my phone - that was not an option today.

"I'd like us to go around and introduce ourselves. Since the class isn't too big I want to get to know you guys better. So go around, say your name and something interesting about yourself. I'll go first." Everyone in the class looked fairly surprised, usually the teachers here liked to distance themselves from their students, they didn't want the students to know too much about them, in case they decided to use it against them. "My name is Claire Leonard and I took this position because it was too hard to stay in New York after my husband passed away from a heart attack. My sister lives in Seattle so I moved here to be closer to her. I know you all probably heard reasons on why I left, so I thought I would use this time to straighten out any rumors that were floating around. Contrary to what's being said, I'm not a lesbian, a transsexual, or a murder - all are things I've heard in the hallways, sorry, I know those are all much more interesting," she laughed.

So did the rest of the class, but it was kinda that awkward laugh that people do when they are uncomfortable. The class looked surprised that their teacher just shared this bit of information about herself. I looked over at Emmett who was equally at a loss for words. He shifted his body towards me and whispered, "She seems... cool." I nodded my head in utter agreement. Cool psychology teacher, point for Forks, maybe they're still in the race.

"Alright everyone, I told you mine, now it's your turn".

Each student went around the classroom telling some antidote about themselves; some slightly humorous but most of them were things everyone else already knew, not really ready to be as open as Dr. Leonard had just been. It was Emmett's turn now, he glanced at me for a hint of what to say - how the fuck should I know what he should say? I just shrugged.

"Um... I'm Emmett and a senior. I want to go to Stanford and play football. I've lived in Forks all my life and I have a dog named Tiger." Alright Em, it's not supposed to be a mini bio, she said something interesting, there was nothing interesting about that, poor guy.

All the eyes in the classroom shifted their attention to me. Crap! It's my turn now...I have nothing to say either but I can't sound as retarded as Emmett. I looked down, thinking. Think, Bella, think. Damnit, still nothing go, but I had been quiet for too long, so I had to say something now. "I'm Bella and...." big pause "I was the first person my brother came out to; more because I walked in on him and his boyfriend fooling around, but I was still the first." That was better than nothing I guess. I let out a relieved sigh that my turn was now over. By the time I had finished the lunch bell was just about to go off. I packed my things up and got ready to go.

"You guys can leave whenever your stuff is together; have a great lunch," Dr. Leonard said. She had to be the coolest teacher at the school, no one ever let you leave early from anything if they had a choice in the matter. As soon as she finished her sentence most of the students were gone, glad to have their freedom come five minutes earlier. Emmett and I were on our way out when she stopped me, "That was refreshing to hear Bella," her voice was gentle and calm, it made you very comfortable in her presence. "Most people wouldn't share something like that on the first day of class, that says something about you."

Emmett looked impatient at the door, I knew he was looking for prospects to quench his lunchtime hunger, "You can go, I'll meet up with you later." He gave me a look to make sure it was really alright. I nodded. He didn't need to be told twice, especially since his chances of finding someone when I wasn't around were much higher. "Thanks. I'm really looking forward to this class. I've heard some great things about you." I lied, but what else was I supposed to do? I hadn't heard anything about her; well, actually nothing positive.

"You're sweet, I'm sure that whatever you heard probably wasn't so nice. But that's nice of you to pretend you didn't hear them. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I really appreciate your openness and hope that it doesn't go away. Have a great lunch, I'll see you tomorrow. "

"You too." I waved and walked out the door.

***************************

I was sitting at our usual table. Emmett was missing, apparently he had found someone. Alice and Jasper were already sitting down and Rose and Edward were making their way over to us. I was sipping on my smoothie, not particularly hungry.

"Jeez, I thought you died. You didn't respond to any of the texts I sent you Bella," Alice said concerned.

"Stop being so melodramatic. I was in class, what would have happened to me?" I said taking another sip from my smoothie. She and Edward sat down. Edward and I glanced at each other, but both looked away quickly. I just noticed he had left the tie the way I had left it, I smiled at that, wonder why he didn't fix it, though.

"You could have been kidnapped or something," she said half kiddingly. I snickered at the comment; little did she know that was actually a possibility. If I didn't get back to Jacob soon that might be the next route he takes to get my attention - he does like to go a bit overboard.

"Well I'm here, so you have nothing to worry about."

"Well, maybe if you'd check your texts you would be a little worried," Rose whispered next to me.

I was confused. I looked at Alice who was urging me with her eyes to get it, but that didn't happen, obviously. I squinted and silently mouthed "What?" She darted her eyes to my phone then back to me twice. It finally clicked, check my phone! I searched through my bag and dug it out from the very bottom. I had two more missed calls from Jacob, big surprise, and five unchecked texts: two from Jacob, which were fairly rude, but nothing out of the ordinary especially when he knows I'm mad, two from Alice, and one from Rosalie.

"Do you see what I'm talking about now?" Rose asked.

And I did. From what I got from reading Alice and Rose's texts, Jacob had started texting Alice to find out what was going on with me. This had to stop; he was being an ass and very stalker like, texting my friends to see what was going on with me, douche bag! How did I ever get involved with him in the first place, I guess I could plead temporary insanity.

Rose had been giving Jasper a look and he finally took the hint. "Let's go outside, apparently girl talk is about to take place in here. Besides, I could use a smoke." Edward nodded and followed Jazz up from the table. I was trying to keep my eyes down, to not look at him as he walked away, but one rogue eye looked up. Stupid eye! Our eyes met again, this time he was gave me a searching look, like he was trying to figure out what was wrong. I forced my eye to look away, I was intrigued, but again was reminded of the person who was causing me all this distress.

I waited until I was sure they were outside, "So what exactly did he say to you?"

Alice looked over her shoulder too, like she was scared someone was going to come up behind her. "It started off nice and all, 'how are you' and 'thanks for hosting the party' that kind of stuff. But then it got weird and kinda creepy," she said in hushed tones. She looked at Rose who nodded in agreement.

"They definitely got progressively creepier," Rose agreed, still nodding her head.

I was getting nervous, "Ok, so what exactly did they say?"

She took out her phone and began scrolling through the messages, putting the phone in the middle of the table so all three of us could see them.

_How's she doin? Is she still pissed at me? She won't respond at all._

No, of course I'm not pissed at you, jackass, that's why I'm responding to all of your attempts to contact me.

"I just responded that I wanted to be kept out of this. After my comment, he sent me this:"

_Come on, you know she's gonna come back to me in the end. Just help me out a little._

Alright, that one was a little worse. "I didn't respond, but I was becoming more worried cause he's never sent anything like this to me before, even when you guys fought in the past. He will usually ask for help once and then if I refuse he'll leave it alone, not this time though. Then came this one, which scared the shit out of me:"

_Alice, fucking help me or I swear you'll both be sorry! _

We were all silent; I was stunned he sent something like this to her, he always liked Alice and this was angry. This was not a stupid text sent out of frustrations, this was a threat, to both of us. Why didn't he just send this to me? Why Alice? We just sat there looking at her phone, the air was tense. All of a sudden a pair of hands came down on Alice's shoulders. We all jumped and she let out a tiny yelp.

"Shit you guys, it's just me," Emmett stated a little confused. We had all been so engrossed with looking at the phone and figuring out what to do next we didn't even notice Emmett come up. He looked around at our faces and realized that something wasn't right, "Is everything ok?"

At that same moment Jasper and Edward came back inside when they saw the commotion around our table; apparently the tiny yelp that Alice let escape wasn't so tiny and people were looking at our table.

"What's goin on Em?" Jasper asked.

"I have no idea, I just got here. I came up behind Alice to scare her and she freaked, I thought they all saw me, " he answered back.

"It's nothing, we just didn't see you," Rose answered.

"Yea, I was just really surprised," Alice said forcing a small smile. I still couldn't say anything, I was still staring at the phone, _'you'll both be sorry', _what the fuck was that supposed to mean. I had to take care of this, he was out of line. No one threaten me or my friends.

Emmett looked down at the table, noticing in the phone. He swiped it from the table and began reading the texts. His face flashed with understanding, "Goddamn it. This is worse than last time. He's not even sending them to you. You got Alice involved."

I got her involved? I wasn't the one sending the texts. I wasn't even responding to the texts he was sending me, but that was probably why Alice was receiving them. I knew he was right and guilt filled every inch of my body - I brought this on Alice. It was my fault, not hers. I knew that by not responding it would just piss him off more. Fucking Jacob Black and his goddamn irrational temper.

"I'm gonna take care of this, AGAIN" Emmett said in a fury. He began walking out of the lunch room; which more like a slow jog for me since he had such longer legs than I did. He was almost to the parking lot when I finally caught up to him, I was slightly out of breath.

"I can take care of this on my own, I don't need your help." I said grabbing at his arm and yanking the phone away.

"Really? You're doing such a great job at it so far." I was silent because he was right, I wasn't doing anything.

"I'm sorry that this happened, but I will take care of it ok? I can handle him. Besides, he's all bark and no bite. Thanks though." I flashed him a smile and gave him a hug, trying to calm him down. He always gets a little agitated when the initial effects of the coke wear off

He looked a bit calmer, but still concerned, "Yea, you're right, but he's never said that stuff before."

"Yea, I know," I said looking off to the side with my face still against his chest, not wanting him to see it; that's the part that scares me.


	7. Out of the Loop

EPOV

Well, this was odd; I wasn't exactly sure what to do, so I just stood there. Jazz had a similar look of uncertainty. Alice and Rose had taken off as soon as Bella and Emmett were out the door, so we just sat down at the lunch table.

"Do you have any idea...?" looking over at Jasper.

"Not a fucking clue," he answered, not even allowing me to finish.

Whatever it was, it obviously wasn't good. Everyone looked upset especially Bella. Alice had looked tense and nervous, Rose had looked concerned and Emmett just looked like he was about to kill someone, but with Bella it wasn't so much that she looked worried but that she was completely stoic and calm - too calm. "Um, you want a coffee, I'm gonna get one," trying to distract myself until either they all came back in or class started.

"Uh, sure, just a latte"

I crossed the room to the coffee kiosk and stepped into the line. As I walked I felt the eyes from everyone in the lunch room on me, apparently everyone else had notice our table's little event, not that I thought that they wouldn't, Alice's scream was loud enough to hear from outside. Why wouldn't everyone else notice?

"Hey Cullen. Is everything ok, Alice screamed pretty loud."

I turned to see who was actually talking to me. People still weren't sure if they could approach me yet, so most stayed a comfortable distance away. Tyler Crowley was looking back at me, with slight apprehension in his eyes. I had played lacrosse with the kid for years up until I left, he should feel fine coming up and talking with me, or at least he shouldn't look worried. "Yea, everything's fine," lying. "Alice was just really surprised by Emmett, which was the point I guess". Apparently people thought that I knew what was going on, which kinda made sense I guess, even though I had been outside when it happened. Hopefully, what I told him would get around and everyone else would just think that it was a prank gone awry.

He looked more comfortable now; like he had passed the invisible barrier which allowed him to talk to me, "That's good then, everyone looked kinda worried," he said shifting his weight.

"Yea," putting on a smile and half laughing, "Emmett got them all pretty good then took off, Alice is small put she's got one mean punch and Rosalie's pretty feisty. I think Bella was in on it cause she left as soon as he started heading for the door." I turned to order the drinks.

He nodded, looking like he believed what I was saying, "Yea, that would have bruised his ego a bit if everyone saw him get beat up by a bunch of girls," he chuckled too. "So, are you gonna play this year? We're having tryouts earlier so those of us who aren't doing fall sports can start practicing sooner."

I paid for the drinks and began to walk away, "Yea, I'm gonna play, Emmett told me about starting earlier. See ya."

When I arrived at the table Emmett was back. I handed Jazz his drink, "Did you want one?" signaling to Emmett. He shook his head. We all just sat there silent; from the look on Jasper's face it didn't look like he had said anything or gotten any information about their abrupt departure.

"So, is everyone alright?" Jasper said casually, taking off his tie.

"Uh, yea...everything is fine," finally speaking. "Did anyone ask what happened?"

"Yea, Tyler asked, but I just said that you were just surprising Alice and she didn't expect it. He believed me, so everything should be fine," I said warming my hands against the coffee cup.

"That's good, if anyone else asks either of you, just say that." The girls then walked in, looking the way they had before lunch, collected and not looking like anything had just happened, "Don't say anything about what happened; just leave it alone," he said looking at both of us. Jasper and I just nodded.

"You guys ready for the next class?" Rose asked laughing at something Alice had said. "Where are you off to next?"

"Physics," Emmett replied.

"We both have Chem," Jasper answered pointing between the two of us.

"We better be off then, it's on the complete other side of campus, "Alice stated, taking my coffee and grabbing Bella's arm.

"I guess that means your with me stud," Rosalie gestured to Emmett and began walking away. He looked at us arching his eyebrows and grinning, then cocked his head to the side to watch her walk away.

"Dude, that's my sister!" Jasper exclaimed hitting him on the arm.

He looked over to him with a devilish look, "What's your point?" jogging slightly to catch up with her.

************************************

We all walked into the class together and found a lab station big enough for the four of us. It was pretty easy forgot about what happened over lunch because both Bella and Alice were acting like nothing had happened, though Bella still hadn't said anything yet. Alice had talked to her, but all did in response was nod or shake her head. Alice was busy talking to different people who came up to her while Bella did something with her phone before putting it away.

"So we've gotta start planning the social events for the rest of the year," Alice said taking her seat in between Jasper and Bella, "we should probably have a meeting sometime this week or tonight, since it's a short week."

Jasper looked confused, "Why are you telling us this, we aren't on any social committee."

"Of course you are, who else do you think I'd have on it?"

"All your little cheerleader friends."

She looked absolutely insulted, "Fuck no! The only reason I talk to them is because I have to as captain, I would never put them on anything where I actually had to spend time really talking or hanging out with them. They are my minions, not my equal."

I chuckled softly, Bella did warn me that this would happen. I looked over to her and she looked back, with a smug 'I told you so' grin on her face. She sat across from me and we just held the gaze, I let a smile slip. When she saw this, though, she looked away.

"No way, I'm not fucking doing it."

Bella looked over to Jasper, "Obviously, you don't know her too well...yet. She's not gonna back down till she gets her way, so It'll be much easier if you just go along with it. Besides, whining rarely helps," Bella interjected, finally saying something, but then going back to doodling, or whatever she was doing, in her notebook.

"She's right, Alice is a bit of a pain in the ass until she gets what she wants," confirming what Bella just said. She didn't look up from the notebook, but I could see a small smile cross her lips.

Jasper looked at me, then to Bella, who was nodding her head in agreement, and finally to Alice to see if we were really right, that she wouldn't back down. He could tell, there was this glint of determination in her eyes. He let out a frustrated sigh, knowing he was defeated, "Fine," he whined, "I guess I'm in too".

"Perfect!" she said brightly. She leaned over, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Class had already begun by the time Jasper and Alice's little debate was over. Unlike the rest of my classes, Mr. Robling had decided to actually teach a lesson today. I looked around, most people were taking notes and generally paying attention; we were the only table that had continued on with our own conversation. He either didn't care that we were having our own conversation or figured he wouldn't be able to do anything even if he did. For the rest of the class, the table had been fairly silent, aside from the occasional whisper or snide comment.

In the last five minutes of the class I felt a vibration coming from my pants; my phone was going off. I reached into my pocket to take it out, just a text.

_Hey Cullen, lets grab a drink or something before I leave. Black_

I wasn't surprised by this; Jacob and I weren't close but whenever we were in the same area we would usually get together and go out. I hit reply:

_What were you thinkin and when?_

I placed my phone on the table once I had responded and went back to taking notes. I glanced over to the rest of my lab partners: Jazz had his hand to his face and the other arm on the table to make it look like he was being productive, while he was really sleeping, Alice was busy taking copious notes and Bella was occasionally taking notes, in between reading _Frankenstein_, which we had to read for Lit. My phone went off again. Bella and Alice looked at each other and then groped their bags to see if it was their phone going off. I held mine out, signaling that it as mine that went off.

_Tonight, I'm leaving this weekend. We can go wherever, don't care. Meet at my place, 7?_

That sounded fine to me; sounded much better than staying in and just working on homework or doing nothing.

_Sounds fine, I'll tell Emmett and Jasper too, they'll probably want to come._

I hit reply and again put the phone on the table. The class was almost over so I nudged Jasper to wake up. He opened one eye to check the time from the clock across the room, then opened the other.

"We could have the meeting tonight at my house, like 6? Would that work for you guys?" Alice asked

"Whatever," Jasper mumbled, clearly upset that his nap was over.

"I guess that's fine, as long as it's not too long, I've got plans later," I replied.

"I can't," Bella answered, pulling her hair into a ponytail.

"Yea Bella, you're fine. I knew you couldn't make it, just call me or come over when you are done. We'll go over everything then," Alice said giving her a look. Obviously there was more to it than just catching up on the minutes of the meeting, and it probably had something to do with what happened in the lunch room.

The phone vibrated again, I picked it up without hesitation so everyone else wouldn't search to see if it were their phones.

_No, come alone. I'm not in the mood to hang out with a bunch of people, especially Emmett._

I guess that made sense because of the incident last night. He probably still held a grudge against Emmett for kissing Bella, understandable. I don't know why he didn't want Jazz to come, he really wasn't part of it, but they never really got along anyway.

_Alright, see you then._

"Ok, so your house at 6?" I asked Alice.

"Yea, that should be fine. Or should we meet at your house, since you guys are car-less?"

"No, its fine, we'll come up with something." The bell rang and the classroom began to empty. The girls were already leaving, having gathered their stuff while I was busy on the phone.

"So, this should fucking suck," Jasper said to me leaning against the back wall waiting for me to go.

"It'll be fine, stop being such a fucking baby," slinging my messenger bag over my shoulder and heading for the door.

"Yea, I guess. If were the only ones on this committee, it shouldn't be _as_ bad," emphasizing the as in his statement.

We walked down the hall to our prospective classes, "We'll go together and then you can go home with Rose."

He stopped in front of me, "Why would I go home with Rose?"

"As I said in class, which apparently you were not listening to me, I'm going out afterward," moving around him and continuing to walk.

"Who are you going out with?" giving me an inquisitive look and stopping in front of me again.

"I'm going over to Jake's place."


	8. Guest Appearance

Again I own nothing _Twilight_, if I did, I would be a very rich woman

Warning - Slight violence ahead...so just a heads up.

BPOV

We sat in the car, more like lingered. I was desperately grabbing for anything that would keep Alice in the car, prolonging my next destination. "So, how did tryouts go today? Did you finally pick out new uniforms?" trying to sound enthusiastic. Generally, this would keep Alice occupied for a while telling me every detail of the process of her choosing the new uniforms, but I knew today she wouldn't fall for it.

"I'm leaving. I'm not falling for you lame excuse of trying to prolong the inevitable. " She saw right through my plan.

"No, I'm really interested!" feigning as much interest as I possibly could.

"You never ask. I know your distraction techniques. Get your ass over there and just get it over with. If you want me to go with you, I'm there," she said placing her hand over mine, patting it, and giving me a reassuring smile. "Or, if you're looking for someone who is less intimidating than me, you could always bring Emmett."

I let out a laugh; it was nice to laugh with her, especially when I knew the next hour or so would definitely not be a walk in the fucking park, more like getting a colonic - annoying, intrusive, painful but extremely necessary for drastic results and a complete cleanse. "Don't worry, I can handle _him_ on my own," venom seeping into my tone.

"Alright. I'm just five minutes away if you need anything and come over when you're done; I'll have a very stiff Cosmo waiting for you. Good luck and tell that fucker bon voyage - for good - from me," sounding excited to finally be rid of him; it's been a long and trying road for me and everyone involved since I started seeing Jacob. She grabbed her bag and exited the car. I waited till she got into the house before I left, trying to add as much time in between the short distances of the houses - they only lived four blocks away from each other.

Again, trying to prolong the lack of time it would take me to get to his house, I decided to walk It would have taken less than five minutes driving, this way it would take at least 15 and allowed me to clear my head because, really, I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to say to him. I hopped out of my car and pressed the button to lock the car, hearing the beeping which signified that the car was in fact locked; not that it really mattered. It was parked in front of Alice's house which was in a gated community, who was going to steal it? Unlike the Cullens, Emmett, or I who had older estates, some would say mansions - but I just think that tacky - Alice and Jacob lived in a newer development, which allowed them to customize their house specifically to each family's wants and needs. I liked the new houses, I thought there was more space, Alice preferred her old house, but that was under drastic remodel for the past two years and didn't look to be done anytime soon.

I walked further down the path buttoning my jacket - it was getting colder. I looked down noticing I had only taken my keys, leaving my purse and, more importantly, my phone in the car. It wasn't like I was expecting to have any issues with Jacob, but I also wasn't expecting those types of messages earlier today. What the fuck was he thinking, idiot. Did he think that his stubbornness would make me swoon and want to be with him, or did he really think that it wouldn't get back to me? But that was probably the point: doing something rash and stupid in order for me to talk to him - he got his way. Again, point for LA, not having to fucking deal with Jacob...maybe I'll make it two points.

I could see his Jag parked in their driveway, stupid pretentious car. Ugh...it was now or never. I really want to go more with the never, but that would lead to a whole hell of a lot more problems which would most likely involve Emmett, Jacob's face badly bruised, and a lawsuit. I exhaled loudly and proceeded up the walkway to the extremely large front door.

_Dong. Dong_. I really hatred how their doorbell rang, it always sounded so ominous, but kinda fit the situation right now.

"Hello Ms. Bella, we weren't expecting you," Lucinda answered with her thick accent - automatically making me feel a little more comfortable - welcoming me into the house, "May I take your coat?" She smiled at me, I always liked her, she's been very sweet to me.

"No, that's alright, I'll hang on to it," I said quietly, not wanting to make my presence known yet. "Is he in his room?" trying to maintain as pleasant as possible, no need for her to be worried or get involved in this little mess. She nodded. "Thank you," and I began to tip toe up the stairs, so not to be heard. I walked down the upstairs hallway to the complete end of the hall and knocked.

"I'm not too hungry Lucinda, I'm going out; but thank you," the deep voice from behind the door answered - at the moment, he at least sounded calm.

I pressed the already ajar door open gently with just my fingertips, "Don't worry, I didn't bring any food and I wasn't planning on staying long," I responded coolly, strolling into his room.

He looked at me, almost like he had been expecting me. I hadn't responded to any of his attempts to contact me and neither had Alice so he couldn't have been forewarned, but he knew I would come - I always come, that was part of our little game. We get in a fight, his temper gets out of hand, I get pissed, he gets pissed, he has some trite apology, we fuck, and everything is back to normal. Not this time; this time we're really done.

He sat on his bed looking at me for a while, neither of us saying anything, just looking at each other. He must have been trying to calculate his next move. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he turned off the TV he had been watching and walked over to me, putting his hand on my chin and tilting it up, "That was some stunt you pulled last night Bells."

I jerked my head away, I didn't want him to touch me, "Well, that was some fucking stunt you pulled today." He held my gaze; his dark hair slightly getting into his eyes and attempting to lure me into a kiss. Under normal circumstances, being this close and him looking at me with such resolve, probably would have gotten me; I was always more attracted to him when things were tense, probably my bad boy complex rearing its ugly head. We have, I mean had, a fairly volatile relationship - very love/hate, you know what they say about that thin line. I pushed him away, putting some distance between the two of us.

"I don't know what you are referring to, I've merely been trying to get your attention," trying to pull off innocence - it didn't work.

I started to get angrier. "You know damn well what you did, so don't play any fucking games. I'm done playing games," slightly growling.

"_You're_ done playing games," getting louder and losing some of his cool, "what the fuck do you call last night and your little, public, make-out session with Emmett?"

"My what with Emmett? It was just a friendly kiss," with a very smug grin on my face and with less irritation in my voice. I knew the calmer I stayed, the more agitated and frustrated he would get - which was the point.

"Don't give me that shit," he got a little louder and began pacing, a mechanism he used when trying to stay calm. "We both know that isn't true."

I walked over to where he kept his liquor and poured myself a drink. "The only reason you're upset is because you think I made you look bad last night. You brought that upon yourself; you made yourself look bad," I answered, walking to his leather chair and taking his seat; knowing this too would add to his frustration level.

"Don't try my patience," he hissed. "You know that's not why I got upset. I just don't like my girlfriend fucking around with other guys."

I uncrossed my legs and leaned forward towards him, "One, you could care less if I was fucking around with other guys, as long as it wasn't in front of other people. And two, if you're worried about your _girlfriend_being seen with other guys, then there's no problem sweetheart, because I was never your girlfriend to begin with." As soon as this left my lips I knew this would be his breaking point and really set him over the edge. He'd been trying to tell everyone, for the entire time we were together, that I was his girlfriend and I always denied it. He always insisted on it, but I always shot down that notion - that was a reoccurring fight we would have; it would usually come up at least once every two weeks. "Why would I want to be someone's girlfriend who treats me like shit and thinks he owns me?" I stated, even calmer than before, taking a sip of my drink and leaning back in his chair.

He clenched his jaw and fist, "We're not going over this again."

"You're damn right were not. We are done - for good." I finished my drink, gently placing it on his desk, and stood up; it had to be nearing an hour and I wanted to leave. "I'm not kidding, you threatened me and my friends, that's fucking it."

_Knock Knock_. "Is everything alright in there? I heard some loud voices," Lucinda inquired, worried.

He steadied himself before he answered, keeping his eyes locked on me, "Yes, everything's fine. Thanks for checking in Lu." He waited until her footsteps died down and were gone before continuing, "Sure it is - I've heard this before," letting out callous laugh.

I strolled over to him, putting our bodies so close that we were almost touching, and looked him straight in the eye, "Does it look like I'm fucking kidding?" not stuttering or hesitating one bit.

He clenched his jaw again, "Don't push me Bella..."

I challenged his threat, "Or what? What exactly are you going to do, huh?"daring him to do something with my eyes. He knew if he did anything physically to me he'd be in way over his head, because this wasn't some family thing you could push under the rug and cover up- parents would be involved, lawyers would be involved and his first year of college would be shit. He just glared at me, "That's what I thought. Just leave me and my friends alone - don't call me, text me, or even fucking think of me...got it?"

I began to walk away from him when he grabbed my arm, and pulled me back to where he was standing, hard. It had hurt, which was the point, and he wasn't loosening his grip on my arm. he knew what he was doing only grabbing my wrist - somewhere a bruise would typically occur and would fade quickly. "Don't. Tell. Me. What. To. Do" he said slowly and through his teeth.

"Let go of me," I spat at him trying to move my arm out of the way, but he just tightened his grip and grabbed my other arm too.

"I'll do what I want," not flinching.

Now, I was starting to wish I had brought me phone - this was not the way I thought things would progress. I knew he was going to get upset and that yelling would probably be involved, but now I was starting to get a little worried. I squirmed trying to set myself free, but this didn't work and ended up hurting more, so I tried relaxing my body, attempting to throw him off in hopes that he would loosen his grip, which worked. He loosened his hold just enough that I knew I would be able to push him off. "Jacob, let go!" I yelled and used all my strength to release my arms, shoving him into the wall in the process. "I'm serious Jake!" I could feel the tears starting to well inside me, not because I was upset that things were ending, but more I was surprised and hurt by his actions - I didn't think he would actually hurt me. I fought back the urge to cry, "just leave me alone. You're leaving in two days, it's a clean break, alright?"

He frowned, I could see that he was upset that it had gotten to this point. "Bells, I'm sorry," he said moving closer to me and kissing me.

I pulled away immediately and slapped him, hard. Now, my hand and wrists hurt because of him. "I'm serious Jake, stay the fuck away from me," I gritted through my teeth, still fighting back the tears. I composed myself and started for the door, when I had noticed a figure in the doorway. Edward was standing there watching the events that had just taken place.

I walked to the door and pushed him out of my way, hissing, "Have a great time tonight Cullen".

****************************************

"Sloo, it wasn't reallly as bad as I thought," I said slurring my words a bit. It was possible that I was a little drunk. I had made my drink at Jacob's pretty strong and as soon as I had walked into Alice's she handed me another one - which I downed in about 10 seconds. I was now working on my third. I really didn't want to go over all of this again; I was finally done with it and didn't want to give Jacob Black or the events of this night a second thought - which meant I had to sugarcoat the story and leave out the part where he started getting all scary and grabby.

"Clearly," looking at me fairly amused, she loved it when I was drunk and she was sober - or at least not as intoxicated as I was. "So what happened?" placing a pile on sweats next to me so that I didn't have to sleep in my school clothes; cause obviously I was not going home. A DUI wouldn't look too good when applying to colleges.

I scooted to the edge of the bed, holding my martini glass for dear life, making sure not a drop would spill out. I sighed happily when nothing did and took a long sip, "Nothing really, jusstold him to fuck off. I told him that it was really over, especially after threatening you and being overly douchebagy today. I don't think there should be a problem." I put my drink on the table and proceeded to strip down so that I could change into my newfound pjs. Normally, I would have taken off my clothes and folded them neatly, I care too much about my wardrobe to just leave them scattered wherever, but in my drunken state, I threw my shirt on Alice's nightstand and kicked off my skirt. Unfortunately, in the process of kicking off my skirt, I also lost my shoe which flew into Alice's cat. Misty darted to the other side of the room as soon as the shoe hit her - I felt a little bad for her, but I didn't do it on purpose. "I'm soooo sorrry Misty!" trying to go and get her.

Alice grabbed my arm with one hand, to stop me from attempting to comfort/suffocate the cat, "I'm sure she forgives you; she just give her some time, Louboutins are lethal weapons for cats." Unfortunately, she grabbed the same part of my arm Jacob had which hurt. I quickly moved my arm away and turned to reach for a sweatshirt so she wouldn't see the look of pain on my face. I didn't want her to know that the grab hurt me, which would have led to other questions because she hadn't grabbed me that hard and I didn't even want to get into that. I could see some bruising beginning to form so I quickly pulled the sweatshirt on.

"Oh!" plopping into her light purple bed, pulling the comforter up to my chin, still attempting to cover my arm, "I rembember I slapped him... hard."

"Really? How did that go, I can't imagine that he took that well," she said pulling on her sweatshirt too and crawling into bed next to me.

"Well, what could he do? Besidess, he deserved it - he kissed me, so I slapped him," I drunkenly stated. That made sense to me, so it should make sense to Alice too.

"Anything else worth telling?"

"Oh, your _cousin_ was there," I said steadying my voice, trying to not sound upset. That was the only part that really bothered me about tonight's events - that Cullen had shown up. No fucking way I was gonna call him Edward again - we _weren't_ friends. He made that pretty clear tonight when he didn't step in to help and just sat there watching; he was merely someone I had to tolerate because all of my friends were friends or related to him. If he saw Jacob acting like that, being that physical with a girl and didn't step in to help her, well me in this case, I didn't want anything to do with him. Apparently, he was even more like Jacob than I thought. I didn't know why it bothered me so much - yea, we had a moment in French... and a little look at lunch...and a fleeting look in Chem, but that was it; nothing more than moments.

"Edward was there?" sounding shocked, "He said he had plans latter, but I didn't think they included Jake." She paused, it was never good when Alice paused, "Should have figured it out though when Jasper and Emmett weren't invited." She picked up her phone and began texting someone

I tried to peek to see what she was writing or who to, but she moved the phone, thwarting my attempt, "Well I guess he was Jacob's dinner plans. They were having a man date."

"Man date?"she asked raising an eyebrow.

I looked at her, surprised she didn't know what I meant, "Yes. You knoww, mandate. Where two guys go out. By themselves. And talk about deep and meaningful stuff, bonding - or just trying to pick up on girls. Really, could be either; I've never been on one to know. It is different, though, than the types of man dates that Mike goes on- I'm assuming less tongue and groping is involved"

She giggled, "I like the word," responding to another text.

"Well thank you," I said sleepily (all the booze finally catching up with me) and with a satisfied smile, glad she liked my word. "How's 'Operation Fuck Jasper' coming?"

"Initial phase - complete," knowing she was making a mental checkmark in her head. "At the meeting we decided he would be Music Chair, coming up with playlists for all social events, which of course needs to be cleared with me, so we shall be spending plenty of quality time together," she said sweetly with a glimmer in her eye.

"Rose, sense anything?" yawning.

"Nothing yet; so far so good."

I closed my eyes, laying my head against the plush pillow and mumbled, "That's goodnight."


	9. Man Date

Sorry guys, this chapter's a bit shorter than the rest, it took a while to get through...and then it took me forever to finally get on here, grrr, which I'm sure you all know. The next chapters are alrady in the works! Would love to hear from ya!

EPOV

What the fuck just happened? All I did was show up to the house to grab dinner with Jake and I seem to get involved in some relationship breakdown. I'm not exactly sure what just happened, but for the brief moment that Bella looked at me, she looked like she was about to rip my fucking throat out while managing to look disappointed at me all at the same time. I rubbed my hip a little - that push hurt, not because she had pushed that hard, but because she, I would say almost strategically, pushed me straight into the door knob.

I turned my attention to Jake, who was rubbing his face and standing at the bar making himself a drink. I had only caught the last part of what had happened - Jake kissed her, Bella slapped him, and told him to stay away. Her slap didn't seem unwarranted, the kiss was pretty forceful, but I don't know their relationship, maybe that's just their foreplay. I don't know what happened before this, because before this I was safe at Alice's discussing which color pallet worked better in the fall for the upcoming dance, away from the drama. I kinda wish I had stayed there longer, but I was already half an hour later than I said I would be.

"You want anything to drink?" he said calmly, not the tone of someone who was just dumped by their girlfriend.

"No thanks," I lifted my shirt, checking for the early signs of a bruise; it was red and tender, but didn't look like it would turn into anything. "You know, we can do this another night or something if you want," still standing in the doorway, unsure of what was going on.

"Why would I cancel? I'm fine, where do you want to go to eat?" lounging across his couch and looking pretty content.

"Wherever is fine with me, I could go for anything."

He looked up; I suppose he was thinking about the limited food options available in Forks, "How about sushi, Hakata's should still be available. It's the middle of the week, shouldn't need reservations."

"I'm down."

He finished his drink in two big gulps - I guess I'm driving tonight - and grabbed his jacket. We headed to my M6 but made sure to say our goodbyes to Lu before we left.

We got in and waited for the car to warm up before I backed out of the driveway. It was silent, Jake wasn't talking, which was strange - he always talked, even when there was nothing to talk about or when he was upset, so this was just weird. He didn't look upset, in fact, if I hadn't walked in on the break-up, I would think that nothing had happened, except he wasn't talking. I didn't know what to say so I just reached for the radio and looked for something to take away the uncomfortable silence. Luckily, the drive wasn't far, so it would take less than 10 minutes.

As I drove my mind wandered, it could have gone many places, but for some reason it landed on Bella. I couldn't help but think of the look that she had given me when she walked out; I get that she was mad, but why the disappointment? Did she think that I was taking sides and that I was choosing his side over hers? That would be ridiculous; I was just standing there and hadn't said anything. I hardly knew her, how could she expect me to choose sides when I didn't even know what was going on between the two of them. The only thing I knew was what I'd seen at the party the night before - that she and Jake were together and that they had some argument – and, that it appeared that they broke up tonight. Whatever, why did this even fucking bother me and why was I wasting my time thinking about Bella Swan? I had been thinking so much about this whole Bella thing that I drove a block and a half past the valet stand.

*********************************

Now, the tension was gone, as were the three sakes we had. Jake was back to his normal, _very_ talkative, self and I was feeling good, I'd be fine to drive as long as I kept drinking water now and let him drink the rest.

"So Cullen, have you scoped out any prospects for the upcoming year? That sister of your has a pretty sweet ass...but unfortunately, for you that is _your _sister – so good news for me..." with a devilish grin on his face.

"Around here? No one has peaked my interest… at least not for anything serious. Come on, all the girls who are actually worth something are all related to me," which was true. There wasn't anyone here I would waste my time on; they were good for a fuck every now and then, but that was about it. "Well, aren't you moving on quickly, not too heartbroken are you?" looking at him as he put a roll in his mouth, he slightly winced, attempting to pass it off as too much wasabi; maybe he was upset over the whole Bella thing. "So you might want to stay away from Rose, she's pretty good friends with your girlfriend, or should I say ex?"

He ignored the last part of my statement, "Who says she'll find out?" again with that stupid grin on his face. Bella didn't look stupid, in fact, she appears to be pretty astute - she must know that he cheats on her, which was probably the cause of the majority of their fights.

I watched him take another sip and flirt blatantly with our waitress, "So, what exactly happened tonight?"

"You mean with this lovely lady?" kissing her on the hand and looked into her eyes, "nothing yet.." She giggled and walked away.

"No, you know who I'm talking about." At that same moment I felt my phone go off in my pocket.

_Why the fuck are you at Jake's? Are you retarded?_

Alice. What a big surprise that Bella told her I was over here.

"You mean with Bella?" some of the enthusiasm slipping from his voice. I nodded, hoping that would be a clue for him to proceed. "Well, we got in a fight, again. Surprise, surprise. She tried to break up with me, but I'm sure in a couple weeks we'll be back to normal again."

So, maybe I was right, the forceful kiss is just their foreplay. I reached for my phone and proceeded to text Alice back.

_We're at dinner, why does it matter?_

"What was the fight about?" Under normal circumstances I would have left his answer alone, but in his drunken state and with Alice's obvious irritation that I was with him, I pushed on with the questions, knowing I would be badgered later about every sentence and small utterance that was made.

He half smiled, "You know, normal girl shit. They want more from the relationship than you do and pestering me with stupid, fucking questions. And when she didn't get the answers she wanted she broke up with me - for like the fourth time in the past two months. We always fucking fight but end up getting back together because we both know we belong together. She just keeps thinking she can do better than me, but I do care about her; otherwise I wouldn't have asked her to be my girl in the first place."

My phone was going off again. I hit the button to read the message.

_Didn't you see Bella? What happened? What did you see?_

I automatically responded, knowing this was these were the questions she probably wanted to hear most about.

_Yea, I saw her, she looked pissed. He kissed her; she slapped him and then said to stay away. Why?_

"We both know as soon as I go away for a while she'll be calling me again, begging me to take her back, cause honestly who's she gonna fuck around here? Fuck Emmett, he's got no fucking chance!" obviously still upset with the kiss they shared the other night. "She's never been into him. Jasper - not that I know him well, but he just...doesn't seem her type. Then there's you -" he drunkenly eyed me suspiciously.

I raised one eyebrow back at him, "Yea, what about me?"

He held his gaze, but then the waitress came around again, diverting his attention. He grabbed her and brought her to his lap, again she giggled and just sat there while he rubbed his nose along her neck, "You, my friend, are another matter entirely." Opening his mouth to talk, but then pausing- trying to choose the right words to say, "You wouldn't do _anything_ to ruin our friendship - besides, she'll never go for you after she's had me, " he said with a laugh then turned his attention to the girl. "Wouldn't you choose me over him?" the girl looked over at me, and shook her head, but her eyes said something else, more along the lines of, 'I would fuck you right now if this asshole wasn't holding me down', I laughed silently to myself. "Of course you wouldn't, no one would. Would you break up with me, I'm a fucking catch!" She whispered something in his ear that I couldn't hear. For someone who allegedly _cares _about the girl who just dumped him he sure is taking it well and moving on pretty damn quick.

What the fuck was that supposed to mean, does he think that Bella actually liked me and therefore felt threatened by me? Apparently he doesn't know her that well, because I definitely did not get that vibe; most girls fall all over me, some would say throw themselves at me - she on the other hand kept her distance and generally was kind of a bitch towards me. And really, did he really assume that we were that we were that close that I would stop to think of him if I actually liked a girl, that happened for no one, maybe Em or Jasper on occasion, if I was feeling generous, but on the whole I was pretty selfish son-of-a -bitch when it came to things that I wanted. The phone went off again.

_That's what she said, but something seems off - it just went too according to plan. Has he said anything? Just be careful, he seems like he's up to something. Don't trust him._


	10. Cornered

Again, sorry for the long delay in postings, I'm in the process of moving - so I've been a little frazzled. I'm almost all settled in, so hopefully I'll get a little more time.

I just want to thank Serendipity for all of her help and comments, she's been great! You are awesome!

Love to hear from you guys! ;)

BPOV

"Ok, so what's the plan for the game and everything...the parentals are starting to become a gigantic pain in my ass over this."

"Emmett, the game isn't for another month, its only the middle of October." rolling my eyes, this was my fault; I told him I thought it was at the end of October, when really, I found out it was the middle of November. He had been harassing me about it ever since the beginning of the month. "Don't try to put this off on your parents; I know they would be fine with whatever and on top of that, they love me and completely trust me with their precious, little baby boy," squeezing his cheeks and moving his head from side to side - like those grandmothers you see on TV do, but never actually see in real life. "You just can't wait to down there; you always get so overly excited for the game. It's _just_ football, relax!"

He swatted my hands away; I guess his manhood felt a little infringed upon as the rest of our little group made their way to our designated lunch table in the middle of the room. "Its football AND cheerleaders, Bella - you can't forget about them. _Never_ forget about the cheerleaders," stating that like it was law.

I brushed my bangs out of my eyes, "And I care about cheerleaders, why? All they are, are a bunch of dance team rejects who just prance around on the sidelines; I mean it doesn't take any _real_ talent, _anyone _could stand in one place and yell, uh, I mean cheer...."shifting my attention to Alice and Rose now - deliberately saying this for their benefit.

Emmett attempted to stifle his laughter because it appeared like my comments were actually getting to Rosalie - hence her reddening face. Alice was used to my cheer putdowns by now, "Those who cannot even do a cartwheel and have difficulty staying vertical should not be making any comments on the noble distinction of being a cheerleader," Alice retorted not even seemingly bothered with my comment. I must be getting predictable, damnit.

"I haven't had any complaints about not being able to stay vertical; you're one to talk biatch," winking at Alice.

Jasper arched an eyebrow, looking at me and then at Alice, who had an angelic smile on her face, "Ladies, ladies, keep it PG, there are children here," motioning toward Emmett with his head as he took his regular seat next to Alice.

I covered Emmett's ears, "Earmuffs, dear. I forgot about the young-in here and his virginal ears," not even able to stifle a laugh as the words left my lips; the rest of the table erupted into laughter as well.

Emmett moved his head away from my hands again, he was the only one not laughing at the joke, but that wasn't surprising. "Ha, ha, ha...whatever. I bet you all that I get more ass than any of your fuckers," looking at everyone like he was waiting for them to challenge. His resolve solidified when he looked at me, though, "Especially you. Would you like to take this bet; I'll make it worth your wild," he exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with confidence that this was a bet he could actually win.

I knew he would win this, therefore, there was no way I would ever take this bet - but there's no harm in making him think that he would lose...all's fair in love and war, right? "Don't worry, you would lose this too. Don't you remember last time? One word from me and no girl within a 100 mile radius will touch you - I wouldn't have to do anything and I would win. So, do _you_ really want me to take this wager?" feeling very confident in my retort.

Emmett was about to respond when he was cut off by two girls approaching our table, "Um, sorry to interrupt Alice, but do you want your coffee now?" We all turned our focus to two girls who had just approached our table. They looked like they were Freshman - probably just trying to kiss Alice's ass.

"Yea, I'll take my vanilla latte now. Ask the rest of the table what they want too - it's just rude to only ask one person when there many more people sitting there."

The main girl looked nervous to talk to us, but I guess who wouldn't, there are people within our class who are nervous to talk to any of us - at least these girls had the balls to make a power play so we would at least know who they were. I guess this would be a point for Forks, high school royalty - but who's to say that, that wouldn't have happened in LA too? The girl hesitated, looking back at Alice who nodded her head as a sign of encouragement, so the main girl continued. I suppose this was cheer's way of hazing: being accepted into the group but only after you have became that person's bitch for the entire year. Alice must see something in these girls, because she usually keeps these types of mundane/normal tasks for the end of the school year - once she's already given them every shitty job she can think of.

She went around asking what people wanted and everyone responded rather indifferently to the Freshman's question - treating her more like a waitress than anything else. The main girl was bolder than her friend; with each person she asked, she became more confident, losing the nervousness in her voice. The other girl was more reserved and hung back: clearly intimidated by being there, but as her friend moved to each person she grew closer to the table too, becoming somewhat more confident.

"We won't bite you," Emmett winked at the second girl, "unless you ask, that is" in his most charming voice - it was slightly nauseating. He motioned for her to come closer but she looked like a deer in headlights, unsure of what she should do. "We aren't that intimidating, once you get to know us." Man, he was laying it on thick. He could see she was getting more uncomfortable, which egged him on more - he loved the innocent ones.

This was enough. Usually, I could give a shit if Emmett fucked around with the underclassman, but this was too much - this poor girl had no idea what she was getting herself into. "Em, shut the fuck up. Obviously, she's not interested; not everyone is simply going to fawn over you because you're trying to be charming and playing nice....right now. Since she's not falling all over you, she's smarter than half the girls here then." I smiled at her, a genuine smile - not that fake shit I usually give everyone else at the school, not including my little group of friends. I turned towards her and whispered, since she was closest to me, "And if he ever tries to pull anything, whether it's something like this or he's just asking you what time it is, just punch him in the balls and say that it's from me." She smiled at me and then ran over to catch up with her friend who was now in the coffee line.

"You scarred her away," Emmett jokingly pouted.

"I think you did that Casanova," satisfied with myself, I had done my good deed for the day. Little as it may have been, it helped that girl out. I sighed contently and noticed that Cullen had that same content look, which was probably plastered across my face, and was looking at me. As soon as he saw that I had seen him looking at me, we both dropped our smiles and he diverted his attention to something Rose was saying. It had been a little over a month since that night at Jacob's, and we haven't spoken much since. He hadn't tried to say anything to me since that night and vice versa - which is perfectly fine with me, there's nothing to be said. As long as he was still communicating with Jacob, there was nothing really to say to him. And even if he wasn't, what was I going to say 'Hey, thanks for just watching us duel it out -where he could have actually hit me and you just stayed the fuck out of it, that was great fun, wanna grab coffee?' I don't fucking think so.

The girls had come back with the coffee and the main girl was handing everything - except for mine and Cullen's, the shy girl was holding ours. Everyone had said a thank you rather dismissively, aside from Alice who genuinely took interest and seemed to be telling her that she had done a good job. The shy girl handed Cullen his coffee and he thanked her politely - nice to see he could be polite to other people.

She then made her way to me and placed my coffee on the table, "Thank you for before," she softly said.

"No problem, I'm always willing to help. What's your name, by the way?" She looked surprised that I had asked her that; which made sense. I wasn't as outspoken as Alice and Emmett, mostly talking with them and some others in our grade. It's not that I wasn't social, but that I just wasn't interested in the majority of high school drivel.

She hesitated, searching to see if this was some joke that I was playing on her. I made no motion and she could see that the rest of the table wasn't even paying attention to the fact that she was still there - we could be fairly self-involved - and finally answered, "My name's Victoria."

"Nice to meet you. I'll see you around." She smiled and turned to see where her friend had gone, leaving the table.

Again, I thought I saw Cullen watching me, but I didn't even bother looking; if he had something to say or some sort of eye problem he should take care of it himself. I dove right into the conversation the others were having.

"Well, where are we going to stay then?" Rose asked.

"Um, I'm not sure. probably the W, that's closest to the school and that's where we stayed last time too," Alice replied, sipping on her latte.

Back to the football game, really? Damnit Emmett.

"Yea Bells, where _are_ we staying?" Emmett asked, relaxing back in his chair and smug that the topic of conversation went back to the football game.

"What are you guys talking about?" Cullen finally deciding to partake in the table's conversation.

Crap. This is the reason I didn't want to talk about this now or ever really. I had already invited Jasper to come along too, but I wasn't planning on inviting him - the less I saw of him the better - and Emmett and Alice both knew this. Em could obviously care less about what I wanted though; he kept trying to force us together, like the more time we spent together would make everything just be alright.

"The football game in LA," Alice said brightly.

"Oh," slightly flinching, but otherwise he looked disinterested.

"I was just wondering about some of the details, Bella. Would it be bad to wear a USC jersey?" Jasper asked with a glimmer in his eyes.

My face dropped and I became fairly serious, "If I even see anything resembling red and gold, on the same article of clothing, it will get burned. Be glad you asked _me_ this, my dad wouldn't even let you on the plane!" The table silently laughed, "If you need something UCLA, we will gladly provide it; I already got Alice, Em and Rose stuff, so I'll just let Mikey know we need one more."

Emmett kicked me from under the table - I winced. "Don't you mean _two_ more?"

I stayed silent. 'No, I only meant one more, you fucker,' eying Emmett and trying to telepathically tell him this. Alice picked up on this move as well and pushed the issue further, "Yea, Edward and Jazz should both be a medium in whatever you get, right guys?" She kicked me too, not as hard as Emmett though. What the hell!

Jasper nodded his head, agreeing with Alice's sizing assumption while Cullen just stayed still not even acknowledging Alice's comment. He's not stupid, I'm sure he knows that he wasn't invited for a reason and probably doesn't want to go either. He probably doesn't want to spend any extra time with me than he has to.

"Yea, it'll be great! We can have a suite and then one room can be the girls room and the other can be the guys! That is if we are actually staying in a hotel, or are we staying at your house?" Alice asked.

"Probably a hotel, my parents are redoing the entire downstairs," I said absentmindedly, trying to figure out how to get out of this diplomatically.

"Can you get extra tickets Bella? I mean we don't have to come," Jasper stated, attempting to ease my anxiety. I could see what he was trying to do, give me an escape out so I wouldn't be uncomfortable and have to invite Cullen. He's growing on me more and more, and I actually want him to come. He nodded at me, as if to say 'Just say you can't get tickets, its fine'.

"Well, I don't think I would be able to go; I'm supposed to be going to check out schools with Dad and Esme that weekend anyway," Cullen finally interjects into the conversation - I guess he doesn't really want to go either, I kicked Emmett and Alice back, rebuking their kicks.

He kicked me again; fuck, I'm gonna get a bruise. "Dude, you can always go another weekend. I'm sure the parentals will appreciate a weekend without any kids in the house...if you know what I mean, bom chicha wawa," he sang.

"Ew," Rose said, shuddering in the process and hitting Emmett in the side.

"Yeah man," Jazz replied with the same look that Rosalie had on her face, exposing their twinness .

"What? You know it's all true" Emmett stated.

"So you'll come right Edward? You can go check out schools the following week," Alice pushed on with their initial motive - Operation get Bella to Cave.

All eyes turned to Cullen, while he looked directly at me, "I guess I can go, but only if Bella can get tickets and if it isn't too much of an imposition."

With the answer that they were hoping for, everyone now turned their attention to be - wanting my answer. I was stuck. Was there even a polite or tactful way of getting out of this? Nope - royally screwed.

"Hi Mrs. Swan, its Alice."

I thought my eyes almost bulged out of my head when I heard the words escape her lips. That sneak had somehow gotten a hold of my phone when I wasn't paying attention - that was probably the reason those girls came over to get us coffee: they were her decoy! I tried to reach over the table to get the phone, but Emmett held me back. "Give me the phone Alice!" I quietly yelled.

She looked over at me, smiled, and then flipped me off, scooting her chair further away from the table, so that she was definitely out of my reach. "Yes, I'm fine and so is Bella. Bella had just asked me to call to see if it would be possible to get two more tickets to the upcoming football game for Rosalie's brothers - Jasper and Edward. She would have asked when she got home, but she didn't want to forget so she had me call now while she was in her charity meeting."

I tried to break free of Emmett's death grip on me, but was unsuccessful - I'm not a happy camper right now.

She was staring at me now with victory in her eyes, "Great! Thank you so much! I'll let her know the good news, thanks! Ciao." She closed the phone and slid it back at me. "Well everything is in order now, everyone now has a ticket. She's really excited to see you again Jazz and to meet you Edward."

I was beaten and I knew it. Damn it! Damn Alice and her crafty ways. "Well since that's taken care of, now both of you can come," nodding towards Jasper. "Don't worry Cullen, we got the ticket, you're welcome to come," trying to stay as calm as possible. I sunk down in my chair and waited for lunch to end.


	11. Playing Nice

**Hey guys, sorry for the delay but this is kinda a big chapter...it would have been bigger but I thought it would be best to seperate it into 2 chapter...the other should be up, hopefully by the weekend.**

EPOV

I was so over chem. It was day 3 of doing experiments and it was just getting monotonous... although it was better than listening to him drone on and on during his lectures. Today we were working on chemical bonding - joy.

"Can you hand me the 250ml beaker Bella?" Alice asked, too far away on the other side of the table to reach it herself. She handed it to Jazz, who handed it to Alice. We were working in partners to create our "slime": apparently this was supposed to be teaching us about hydrogen bonding or some shit. The girls had split up, since neither were willing to touch the slime; me and Alice and Jasper and Bella - big surprise on how the pairing worked out.

Things had gotten a little better between the two of us - but not by much. It'd been almost a week since she invited me on the football trip and hasn't retracted the offer...so maybe she was planning on inviting me in the first place. And maybe, today after school I'm going to put on a tutu and become a pretty ballerina... So maybe that's a bit of a stretch. She invited me on the football trip because she couldn't figure a way how to get out of it. Still, I guess she could have said no. I mean, it's not like I don't want to go, I'm always down for a good getaway, but I also don't want to start any issues - and she clearly doesn't want me there. I've gotta talk to her about this. Maybe after school today; I could offer to drive her home....

"Edward! Grab the fucking beaker that stuff is overflowing!," Alice yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts, and then smiling politely and giggling at the class; excusing herself from cussing in front of everyone. Apparently, while I was thinking about this football game dilemma Alice had turned up the heat, which I was supposed to have noticed. While she went to get the food coloring in the front of the class with Jazz this thing started bubbling over. Luckily, she spotted it or there would have been an opaque goop all over my stuff and the table - I could only imagine the comments that everyone would come up with, if that were to happen.

"Got it! Sorry Alice," looking over with an apologetic look. She looked back at me, then to the table to make sure that nothing had spilled on her things, and then back to me, finally nodding in approval. I tidied up her side and further made sure that nothing had touched her stuff; I had gotten her stuff dirty before once- when we were 9. I spilled punch on her Barbie dying its hair pink. I had never witnessed a shit storm like that before and never want to witness one again - at least not one where I was on the receiving end of it.

In the midst of straightening up I noticed that Bella had been watching me - probably just waiting for the goop to explode all over while I wasn't paying attention. Bet she wouldn't even warn me that it was happening...bitch. "You missed a spot" she stated, disinterested and turning down the flame on her project.

"Thanks," I sarcastically threw back; now she was mocking me...what the fuck.

"No really, on the other side of her binder. I guess a bubble exploded while you were _daydreaming_ or whatever. You might want to get that before she comes back," she said, again disinterested and playing with her hair.

Well that wasn't what I was expecting - her helping me out. "Thanks," and nodded my head in conjuncture with saying the words.

"Ey B, what color do you want?" Jasper yelled from the front of the class. Mr. Robling shot him a disapproving look, which he just shrugged off. B? What the hell - they were on a nicknames basis, when did that happen? Did I miss something?

"Whatever you want's fine," she said with more enthusiasm - I guess she just saved her _best_ behavior for me.

I glanced at the clock, 5 more minutes, then it's the weekend. Alice and Jazz returned, each with their prospective colors: Alice with red and Jasper with blue.

"So all we have to do is add the food coloring to get the shade we want and then turn it in, so it can sit over the weekend - then finito!" Alice said, squeezing the red drops into the beaker and stirring.

I watched Bella and Jasper as they worked on their slime; they weren't talking much but they laughed sporadically about something I couldn't hear. Where they whispering? Why would they? Why do I fucking even care? I tried harder to listen, while still trying to maintain the appearance that I was working on the lab report and listening to whatever Alice was talking about, but couldn't hear anything except the occasional 'J' or 'B'. Then it stopped, the _laughing, _and Alice and Jasper got up again to put the beakers, with the now colored slime, away.

I started clearing up the area, picking up the extra beakers from the table, "Do you want me to take yours too?" I asked Bella.

"I can handle it," she coolly stated.

"Really, it's no big deal, I'm going to the sink already and I have a free hand," extending my hand, waiting for her to hand over her beaker.

She hesitated, looked at me and squinted - what was she trying to figure out? Why was she being so damn difficult? "Alright," and she handed me her beaker, "Thanks."

"Just returning the slime heads up," and I walked to the sink. She was being more difficult than she normally was to me; usually she would either pretend not hear me if I said something to her or just do the small request without saying a word. Now, it's like she's questioning everything I do and giving me fucking attitude about it. I made my way back to the table and put away my stuff. Bella gave me a slight nod of appreciation; I guess that was better than nothing.

"So Jazz, are we still on after class to work on the playlist for Homecoming?" Alice asked fairly enthusiastic, which was odd. She usually isn't _this_ excited over stupid committee things.

"Yea, if we must," Jasper said rolling his eyes and then closing them- clearly he didn't catch Alice's enthusiasm, but I did.

I saw her and Bella exchange a glance which Jazz had missed; something was clearly up. The two of them got up and began walking towards the sink. Then it clicked. I got up, meeting them there. "Just be careful Alice, you're family now," I playfully warned, shaking my finger at her.

She and Bella looked at each other and then to me, "I don't know what you're talking about Edward?" Alice said innocently.

"Drop the innocent act; come on, you don't actually think you're going to fool me, do you?" a confident smile now across my lips.

Bella kept the charade up, playing it off like she had no idea what I was talking about - she was loyal. Alice, on the other hand, knew she was beat, "Am I really that obvious?" she asked with a worried expression on her face. Bella elbowed her in the side; apparently she thought she should have tried harder to keep up the charade.

"No, you're not obvious - but I do know you fairly well; so that kind of gave me some insight," I said leaning against the counter. Alice smiled at that comment, relieved, and Bella, she just rolled her eyes and sighed, annoyed that I was in on Alice's little secret too. "And you might want to keep this away from Rose, she might flip out on you."

Alice stared at me blankly, "Do you think I'm stupid? Or that I have some sort of death wish? I'm not telling her anything."

"Yea, if your little tryst lasts that long," Bella snorted under her breath and walked away.

"Shut up Bella!" Alice exclaimed. I gave her a disapproving look.

"What?" she replied. "What's that look for?" she inquired as we made our way back to the table.

"Oh, you _definitely_ know what that look is for munchkin," I quipped.

The bell rang, she arched her eyebrows and gave me a mischievous grin - saved by the bell. "Come on Jazz, I wanna get a smoothie before we start working," she grabbed his arm and tugged him out the classroom before the bell stopped ringing.

With Alice's quick getaway, this left me alone with Bella - which was what I wanted, but did not leave me any time to prepare. What the fuck is wrong with me? Why do I need time to prepare, I wasn't planning on this being some epic showdown. Bella had grabbed her bag and was almost out the door; apparently she felt just as awkward of it just being the two of us as I did.

It was now or never, cause she was already halfway out the door, "Bella wait!"

She paused, her back still facing me. She stood there, not turning around, but waiting to see what my next move was going to be. I grabbed my bag and met up with her at the door. She still said nothing. She just looked at me; her gigantic sunglasses covering her eyes, which even with the dark glasses on I could tell were questioning my intentions.

"Uh, I know Alice drove you guys this morning and I figured you'd be stranded since she just ran off with Jasper... soo do you need a ride?"

Her mouth dropped a little, not drastically but enough to notice. She took off her sunglasses, as if that would make it easier to understand what I said, "What?" she uttered in surprise.

I tried to stifle a laugh because her reaction was just too funny, but if I started laughing at her now she would probably think that this was some sort of trick. I slowed it down for her, trying to ease the uncomfortable tension in the air, "Doo youu waaaant a ride hoomeee?" elongating most of the vowels in the question.

And then she did something unexpected, she laughed; I figured I was in for some bitchy sarcastic comeback. "No, I get the question," she laughed, "just why are you asking me?"

This was bold; didn't think she would be this upfront - I thought she was going to dodge the question and just leave. I didn't really know how to react to this because there were a lot of possible answers to this question, so I just didn't say anything. I ran a hand through my hair, "I just wanted to be nice." This was the most neutral answer I could come up with.

She looked at me harder and shrugged - but didn't say anything. We just stood there looking, not really at each other, but in the person's general area. She finally spoke. "Well thank you for the offer, but I have a meeting at 3 for the charity committee," responding rather politely, weird.

I was about to respond, when a familiar looking girl came up to us. "Hey Bella, are you guys heading to the meeting now - you're gonna be late if you don't go soon," she said and continued walking. But then she stopped, "That's really cool you're bringing Cullen, since there aren't many guys on the committee."

What was she talking about? Did she think I was now a part of the charity committee now? Well, I was looking for something to tell her 'thanks' for letting me come on the whole trip...but I think this would be a bit much. The familiar girl kept talking, more so to Bella, she hardly even looked at me, "This is going to be so great! He can give us some male perspective."

"Well..." Bella began, but then was cut off by the other girl, again, when some other girls came around the corner.

"Guess what guys, Cullen's going to be on the committee too!" The others looked very excited, probably excited that this would give them a chance to actually talk to me. I looked over at Bella who _did not_ look excited - more like the same look she had on her face when she invited me to the football game - cornered.

"Ok guys, calm down. Just go to the room and I'll meet you in there," she ordered the others. They looked at her with pleading eyes, but she didn't flinch.

They started to walk away when one girl turned. "But..." the familiar girl started to say.

"Victoria, shut the fuck up and get in the room," Bella commanded. Victoria? Oh, that was the coffee girl from earlier in the week; Bella was still talking to her? Victoria lowered her head, defeated, and mumbled something under her breath that neither of us could hear. She went into the room as ordered.

"Sorry about that; didn't mean to bombard you with all those girls." She sounded genuine. I looked at her, her big brown eyes shimmered with sincerity.

"It's alright, I've been through worse," I joked.

She paused, hesitant to say whatever she was about to say. "Well, it seems that you have an audience and I know they won't shut up about you if you don't go. You don't have to but," and then she paused again, exhaling loudly, "I'd really appreciate it if you could just come to this meeting; I'd owe you if you came." She said the last part very quickly - probably hoping I didn't catch what she just said. Unfortunately, for her I did.

That last part almost looked painful for her, which again I thought was fucking hysterical. I know I'm an ass - I really shouldn't be enjoying someone else's pain but this was just too good. "Hmmm," I put a finger up to my chin and scratched as if I was thinking about something, "so you would be indebted to me if I went?"

"Well, yea I guess," she muttered. "Never mind, I'll handle them myself," she said clearly and started walking away.

"Wait, I never said I wouldn't do it," I stated. She stopped walking and waited for me to catch up.

*****************************************

God, this was a boring meeting. 'When should we meet', 'who should host the next', it was all logistics - they weren't planning on helping anyone, they have just been socializing the entire time - charity committee my ass. I glanced at my watch, it was almost an hour and a half of being in here...this had to be ending soon.

"Alright, so does anyone have any ideas about what the big event should be this year?" Bella proposed to the group.

The room was silent - it was pretty clear who the brains of the operation were. Bella was the Queen Bee and the rest of the committee were her little drones.

"Come on guys, I know you all have ideas. Out of all of you, one of them might actually be good." The rest of the girls looked at each other like they were being complimented - were they really that dense that they couldn't see that she was mocking them? A single laugh escaped my lips; I moved my hand to my mouth to try to play it off as a cough but Bella caught it.

"Do you have something to add Cullen?" she said with a tight smile - she knew that I had gotten her joke.

"Nope, just that I agree with you. You would think that with _this_ group of girls, someone would have a good idea for what you could do," I said trying to remain composed - as was Bella.

The group of girls were looking around the room at each other and quietly talking, no one saying anything too loud incase their idea was stupid. "Well, do you have any ideas?" Tanya Denali asked. She was one of the only girls there I actually knew: our parents are friends and we were in a lot of the same classes when we were younger.

Bella arched an eyebrow and the rest of the girls turned and looked at me. I guess I was expected to respond now. I thought for a minute before saying anything. "Well, have you guys ever thought of having an auction?"

"Of course we've done that," Tanya immediately responded, slightly annoyed at this was my response.

"No, not a regular auction. I mean a date auction: you guys could auction yourselves or whomever off and people would bid on the girl they wanted to go on a date with," I retorted.

The room grew quiet - they were all thinking about what I had just proposed. "That's genius!" Tanya squealed. "That is absolutely perfect!"

Bella looked at her watch - apparently she wanted to get out of there too. "Ok guys, this sounds like a good place to stop. Let's think about the idea that was just proposed and we'll talk about it next week. Meeting adjourned," she exclaimed.

The room began dispersing and I headed for the doorway - I wanted to get out of that room as quickly as possible. Bella was quick to follow; I was the first person out the door and she was the second. "So, would you like a ride now?" I asked.

She hesitated again, pulling on her jacket, "Well I was just going to catch a ride with Em," she looked out the window and towards the football field, "but I guess he's still in practice." I could tell she didn't want to give in, but she finally did, "Ok, if it's not too much of an issue."

"It's not a problem; I wouldn't have asked if it were," I said bluntly.

We headed towards my car in silence. It was cold outside. I hugged my coat closer to my body and saw that Bella had slouched a little into her scarf, so that now it was covering her mouth and some of her nose. We both jogged to the car, which surprised me since she was in some fairly high stilettos. We were almost all the way to the car when she tripped. I saw this happening and grabbed her arm to try and steady her. Unfortunately, she still lurched forward and fell onto her knees; it didn't look that bad but she was wearing a skirt so she had skinned her knees a little bit.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yea, it's not a big deal," she said wiping the gravel off her knees with her free hand and then winced a little bit - it looked like she might have a small cut of something.

"Do you need a band-aid?"

"No, it's not that, I think I may have twisted my ankle in the fall. Thanks for trying to help," she said. She was looking down at her ankle now and holding onto my arm tighter - probably trying to steady herself and probably unaware that she was still holding onto me. She muttered something about scuffing her shoe.

I looked down at her ankle, it looked like it getting kinda puffy, "I should take you to my dad -incase its more than just a twisted ankle."

"No, no, I'm sure I'll be fine. I trip all the time and I'm good," she tried to assure me.

I looked at her ankle again. In the minute or so we were standing there it had gotten even more swollen. "It looks pretty bad and this can turn into something more serious, Bella. I'm not taking no for an answer."

She finally let go of my arm and made a motion to take a step, trying to show me she was really ok. "See," she took the step forward, "I'm fin....ow" she winced and almost fell again. This time I caught her though. I gave her an 'I told you so look'. "Ok, maybe I'm not fine. I'll go see your dad".

**Sidenote - I'm looking for a beta or someone to bounce some ideas with...if you're interested send me a pm**

**Also, reviews are fantastic :) hint hint**


	12. You Win Some and Oh Wait, I Don't

**I know I _said_ the weekend....but what's a couple days? ;) Anyway, its up now...its a little longer, but not by much.**

BPOV

If someone were to have asked, 'Hey Bella, where do you think you're going to be Friday evening', the back of Cullen's car, injured would have never crossed my mind. Well, maybe the injured part, cause that does seem to happen to me a lot, but not the Cullen part. He was being oddly nice all of a sudden; this was weird. I glanced at him while he drove - he looked calm, at ease, and...slightly worried? Again weird. I really don't think that I need to see his dad, but I'm also in no condition to just walk away right now, so I guess I'll just have to go along with what he says. When I get there I can always just hang out with Rose.

I looked at my ankle, since it was stretched out in front of me - he insisted I sit in the back seat so that I could elevate it. Again, I protested against this, but lost this battle too. It seemed that when we were around each other, he had a knack for getting his way: he gets to go on the football trip, he got me to get a ride from him, and he got me to go see his dad. This was annoying, _I_ was the one who usually got my way. Point for L.A. - no Cullen there.

"So how are you doing back there?" he inquired. I could see his eyes in the rearview mirror.

"Just dandy, waiting for the pool boy to come around and give me a drink" I sarcastically replied.

He smiled, he had a nice smile - not too toothy or too wide like some people's. Damnit, I should not think he has a nice smile. Come on Bella, rookie mistake. "How's your ankle? Is it any bigger?"

"Um, a little bit. Right now I kinda look like I have a fucking kankle," I frowned a bit with this.

He reached the entrance to his house; quickly pulling around the driveway and stopping the car in front of the doorway. I opened the door and braced myself, so that I could yank myself out of the car. I put one hand on the door of the car and the other on the frame to brace myself - I can do this on my own.

"You want some help?" he asked, extending his arm towards me for support.

Holding on to his arm was probably more solid than holding onto the car door, and with the luck I was having today, the door would probably shut on my hand and break it. I grabbed onto his arm with both hands and stood with ease - which was probably because he pulled me up a little bit. "Thanks," I coolly responded. As soon as I was out of the car I let go of him; I didn't need his help. I could do this on my own - though the door did seem kind of far away. I started walking towards the door, probably more like hobbling. The pain was getting worse. I tried not to wince as I took each baby step forward - I didn't want to give in, but mostly show him, my weakened state at the moment.

"You know, you can lean on me if you want... to take some of the weight off your ankle," he said with an amused look on his face. He was enjoying this - typical.

I resolved my will to make it up the stairs without his help. "No, I'm good... on my own. I can handle this."

"Are you sure about that? Doesn't look that way to me," he said taking a long step forward, which basically closed the gap between us. All that effort of trying to walk and all I had done was taken one normal step away from him...damn ankle.

"No really, I'm good." I took another step forward, trying to make it bigger than the rest I had just taken. God, this stupid thing did hurt, a small 'ow' escaped from my lips. Mind over matter...just keep thinking that.

"Seriously Bella, let me help. You're going to fuck up your ankle more this way." Now _he_ had the resolved look in his face.

Mind over matter. "No, I can do this on my own," I said taking yet another painful step forward and away from him.

"Stop being so damn stubborn. Either take my arm or I will carry you into the house...your choice." I glared at him, he had to be bluffing. It didn't look like it, though, he looked pretty fucking determined. We just stood there looking at each other. I lifted my foot, about to take another step - daring him to do something. He didn't miss a beat, he mimicked my actions exactly; it was now clear he was not bluffing.

I huffed giving in. "Just give me your fucking arm," I growled slightly.

He extended his arm and I took it - more like latched onto it. "Was that so difficult" he said with a fucking smirk on his face...dickhead.

We slowly walked into the house, because I couldn't really walk any faster. This would be my first time in the Cullen estate; it felt odd walking in with him, different than it would probably feel walking in with J or Rose. We walked toward the front door and I reached for the door knob - he beat me to it. He held the door open for me and I proceeded into the entryway. It was beautiful. They had walnut flooring and cream colored walls, interspersed with classic and modern pieces of art and panoramic windows. It was classic, but looked homey and lived in, all at the same time.

"Come on, were gonna go this way," he said directing me down the hallway. "Dad? Esme?"

"Edward?" a gentle female voice rang out. We followed the voice into the kitchen and were met by his step-mother. I haven't seen her in a while, she looked different yet the same. She was a little older but was still beautiful; she seemed to fit in perfectly with the house - which made sense I suppose. She wasn't too tall, but she wasn't short either. She was well coifed and was dressed impeccably...not anything like my mother, mom was more trendy, out-there and flashy, while Esme was just classic: Esme was Chanel while my mom was Cavalli. "Oh, I didn't know you were having a friend over." She glanced at me and then did a double take, "Bella?"

"Yup, that's me," what else could I really say?

A warm smile crossed her lips and her face lit up. "Oh my, I haven't seen you in years. You've grown into a lovely young lady," she said moving closer to give me a hug.

I blushed. "Thank you," I said and returned the hug.

Cullen looked a bit confused with our interaction; I guess he forgot that our families have known each other for a while. After a minute or so, it seemed like it finally clicked. "Esme, is dad home? Bella hurt her ankle and I wanted him to check it out."

She looked down at my ankle and winced for me. "That just looks painful; not good at all. He's not back yet, but should be here soon. I'll give you some ice to put on your ankle and you guys can relax till he comes home." We both nodded in agreement to her suggestion.

I saw that the family room was connected to the kitchen so I hobbled my way over to the couch. Cullen gave me a disapproving look, probably because I did it without his assistance. Whatever - it was my ankle, I'll do what I want with it. Esme handed him the ice pack and left the room. He brought the ice pack to me and placed it on my ankle. I jumped a little bit; that thing was friggin cold!

"Oh, did that hurt?" he said furrowing his eyebrows a bit.

"No, just cold." He relaxed when I said this.

Then we both sat in silence - it was awkward.

I checked out the room, observing my surroundings. This room was very comfy; it seemed like this was the room the family used most. It looked just a bit less formal than the rest of the rooms and it was semi-attached to the kitchen; in my opinion, rooms near the kitchen are always used the most cause people are always hungry. There were leather couches and loveseats with cashmere throws all over. It had a very neutral color pallet, with different shades of creams and browns, interspersed with rich blues, greens, and reds from various accent pieces. A gigantic flat screen lined one of the walls, along with a huge DVD selection. There was a miniature library - which I'm sure was part of a much larger library somewhere else in the house - a stereo and a bar. A bar, fantastic! I could almost hear it calling my name.

"Um, do you want a drink?" Cullen asked.

I could not answer this quick enough, "Yes!" He arched an eyebrow - maybe I said that just a little too enthusiastically. "Can I have a vodka soda, extra lime, please?" He nodded and began making our drinks. Hopefully, this would ease some of the tension, cause it looked like it was just going to be the two of us - where the fuck was Rosalie?

It didn't take him too long to make, it's not like the drinks were that complicated. He handed me my drink and took his seat on the opposing couch. "So," he stated looking down at his drink.

I mimicked his actions, looking down at my own. "So".

I slightly peered up from my glass - he looked anxious over something. Maybe he just was wondering where his dad was so that we both could be done with this odd encounter; that's what I was wondering. Well kinda of...I mean he hasn't been that bad today, he's actually been alright.

"So..." he began again and took a long sip from his drink. "About the football game."

I tensed a little bit with the mention of this. I mean I had invited him, but I was kinda hoping he forgot - I know that's not very likely, but it was worth a shot. Now I took a long sip from my drink as well, "What about it?"

He looked up from his glass, "I wanted to talk to you about the trip. I know you felt cornered into inviting me, so I'm giving you a way out. I don't need to go, its fine. No hard feelings."

What? I looked down and took another very long sip, this time finishing my drink. This was what I wanted all along, so why do I feel bad about uninviting him then? I mean, I still don't really want him to come, but now I kinda feel bad about it. I bit my lip, unsure of what to actually say. I wasn't sure what I wanted at the moment. He looked at the empty glass, looking a little surprised that I finished it this quickly. What can I say, I drink when I'm stressed and confused. Some people eat, some people run (I'll never understand _those_ people), and some drink; at least mine is lower in calories than eating. "Do you want another?" he asked picking up my glass. I nodded without thinking.

When he was done, he handed me my drink and sat on the other side of the couch I was on - he moved closer. Was this deliberate? I took another sip, this time smaller...I didn't want him to think I was some kind of lush. I was stalling and I knew it; I've gotta say something. "No, I invited you. I'm not rescinding my offer. The invitation still stands if you want to go. It's up to you," I said quietly looking at the small space between us and finally up at him once I had finished.

He ran his hands through his bronze locks; it looks like he does this when _he's_ uncertain or stressed - though he also looks like he's one of those runner types too. "Are you sure? I don't want to make it uncomfortable or awkward...it is your trip."

Man, he was making this difficult. I just said that he could come... did he want me to say that I wanted him to come? Even though we were civil today, there was no way in hell I was gonna tell him that I wanted him to come - because I wasn't sure if I even really wanted him there. "It won't be uncomfortable or awkward," which was a lie, because it probably would be. "You should come, it'll be a fun trip with everyone. It's always a good time." This answer wasn't a lie, well except for the first part of that sentence. The trip always was fun and it was a good chance to get away from everything at Forks - I only brought my small group of friends because I didn't have to invite everyone, and more importantly, I didn't want to. To our larger circle of "friends", it was technically a family trip so not everyone was expected to be invited, and as much as I didn't want to admit it, Cullen was part of my inner circle of friends.

His green eyes were watching me, studying me even, to see if I was telling the truth. I hadn't _really_ said anything that wasn't true, so he should believe me. His eyes finally softened, "Alright then, I'll come. Thanks."

I nodded and slightly smiled, as if this was his 'you're welcome'. He looked like he was going to continue, but a man who I didn't recognize, probably his father, had just walked in the room. "Hello Edward," he nodded towards Cullen and Cullen nodded back. "And you must be Bella, I'm Carlisle. It's very nice to meet you." He smiled softly at me and moved towards the couch. I started to push myself up so that I could properly introduce myself, but he cut me off, "Please, don't get up on my account. It's probably best you don't put pressure on your ankle; we can always be formally introduced later, " he chuckled. "So what exactly happened?"

I opened my mouth to answer, when Cullen cut me off. "We were on the way to the car and she was jogging," he started.

"No. We were just walking fast because it was cold," I corrected. If he had to tell _my_ story, his dad should have all the facts straight.

"_No_. I was walking fast, you were jogging," Cullen insisted. I would have pressed the point, because I was right, but Carlisle was here and I didn't want him to think badly of me - starting an argument over something so insignificant seemed a little juvenile in front of adults. Cullen looked over at me, to see if I was going to dispute what he had just said, but I remained silent. His tight lips flinched slightly...like he was trying not to smile, but the upper corner of his mouth gave him away. What an ass, he always had to be right...again, getting his damn way. "As we headed to the car, Bella must have tripped or gotten her heel caught in something and she fell. Initially, we both thought that she had just scrapped her knees, but her ankle must have gotten stuck in the process. Or it could've been that she wasn't wearing shoes that were conducive to _jogging_," emphasizing that last part.

"Thank you Edward. Is there anything else you can think of, Bella, that he left out?" Carlisle asked me, concerned.

I thought about it for a moment; aside from the jogging/fast walking mix-up everything else he said was right. "Nope, we just came back here and put an ice pack on it."

Carlisle pulled up an ottoman so that he could get a better look at my ankle, "Can I take a look?" he asked.

I nodded, signaling him to proceed. He removed the icepack and was pressing different swollen areas around my ankle. His blonde hair had fallen slightly over his eyes - he did not look like a man who had a teenage son, he seemed much more put together and in better _condition_ than my father. My dad looked good for his age, but he definitely showed it: with a little salt and pepper in his dark hair and the beginning of wrinkles in all the usual places for a man of 45. But Carlisle, well what else can I say but that he's hot!

"You should be fine Bella. I wrapped up your ankle, so that should help stabilize it, but definitely try to stay off of it for the next could of days," he told me. He had wrapped my ankle? I guess in admiring his hotness I had kinda zoned out. Oops.

"I don't need crutches right?" I asked. I never liked them. I had to use them once before when I was younger. Mikey had dared me to jump off a huge slide; I jumped off and had a horrible sprain, leaving me in crutches for a couple weeks.

"Nope, you should be fine. But no Manolos, Jimmys, or Louboutins for the next could of days, unless they are flats or sandals," he winked at me. I made a small pouty face which cause both Carlisle and Cullen to laugh at the same time...they had the exact same laugh.

"Alright, I'll have to break the news to Alice though - she won't be happy."

"Would you like a doctor's note?" Carlisle suggested.

I laughed, "The thought ran through my head. You know how she gets sometimes."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of Alice," Cullen interjected, changing the tone of the banter to something a little more serious.

"Ok, well you should be fine Bella as long as you stay off your ankle. I'll leave you two alone - I know how it is, you guys don't want the old people around cramping your style," he smirked and left the room.

Now that the good doctor had seen my ankle, there really was no reason to still be there. I think I had, had enough awkwardness for the day and I was ready to go home. I got up, to see how my ankle would hold up now that it was wrapped. I just stood up, putting a little pressure on it...not too bad; it still hurt but not as bad as before. Either Carlisle had wrapped it very tightly or the alcohol, mixed with a lack of food, was dulling the pain a little. It was probably a little of both.

Cullen was giving me an odd look. "What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You heard the rules...no heels. Take it off," he said very firmly and glancing down at my shoes. If he were someone else, I would have thought he was taking about something other than shoes.

I frowned a bit. "But..." trying to come up with a legitimate argument, "I'll be uneven if I take them off." That wasn't exactly what I was going for, I was looking for something witty to say...but that's all I could come up with.

"Then just take them both off - you'll be even then," he retorted, coughing back a laugh.

Hmph. I took off the one shoe, "But I'm keeping the other one on. Happy now?"

He didn't do anything in response to my question. He merely held out his arm for me to take, "I should probably get you home."

"Pro bab ly," dragging the word out and reluctantly taking his arm for stability - not without throwing in an annoyed eye roll for good measure.

We made our way through the hallway of the house and out to the car where he opened the passenger door for me - apparently now I was allowed to sit in the front. I sat and waited for him to get into the other side. He turned on the car and began fumbling with the radio - there was still a lot of tension in the air; not enough alcohol had been consumed to completely ease that. I took out my phone in an effort to distract myself. I text Em, letting him know where I was at and that I didn't need a ride from him and, afterwards, text Alice to tell her to come over to my place, cause I obviously couldn't drive. Those texts didn't take too long, though, so it was back to the uncomfortable silence.

I didn't enjoy the silence now...when I drink I tend to get much more talkative, so this was kinda killing me. "So, what are you going to be for Halloween?" I asked, staring out the window, fairly disinterested. I was only talking because of the liquor.

He looked over at me, confused, "Halloween?"

I glanced at him and met his gaze - automatically he turned his eyes back to the road. "Yea, you know, Halloween. The day people dress up. Little kids get free candy. Trick or Treat..."

He stopped me mid way through my explanation, "No, I know what Halloween is. I was just thrown off by your topic of conversation."

"Oh ," I answered. There was really nothing else I could think of.

He smiled, not a normal smile, but it was slightly skewed: more of a crooked smile. He was playing along, "I'm not sure yet. What about you?"

"Dunno yet, I'm tossing around some ideas - I think Alice wanted to do a matching theme, like Charlie's Angeles or something," I answered as I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail.

"That would make sense - Alice is all about the theme. You..." then he stopped midway for some reason. I looked over at him to find out why, but he was just looking straight ahead.

"You what? Are you having difficulty finishing your thought?" I tossed at him sarcastically.

He didn't say anything else. I gave him the opportunity....whatever. I turned and looked out the window some more.

He cleared his voice and softly said, "You should wear your hair up then, it shows off the back of your neck...it'll look good with the costume," in a matter-of-fact tone.

What? He was commenting on how I should wear my hair... odd. Was this supposed to be some sort of compliment?

"Were here," he said stopping the car abruptly and reaching into the arm rest for a cigarette. I waited to see if he was going to make a move to help me out the door, but he just stayed where he was. The way my entryway was situated, I would need help getting out of the car because there were a lot of steps and a slight angle to the driveway, which he could clearly see. Now he does nothing, though? Alright.

I opened the door and attempted to get out. I struggled, winced, and silently cursed a lot and still nothing - no assistance. For being ridiculously overbearing before, he's made a complete 180 now. "Thanks," I spat at him, a little annoyed with his lack of assistance, "and tell your dad thank you as well," sweetening my disposition a little with this. There was no reason to be bitchy towards his dad, I actually _liked_ him.

"Uh huh," he answered me back.

"Whatever," I said under my breath and slammed the door shut. I started hobbling towards the entrance. It was quiet outside, so I was able to hear him roll down the window.

"You know, you can always retract the offer, if you want. I'll leave it out there, like a contingency plan," he said and sped away; making his way to the end of the driveway before I could even turn around. I continued hobbling up the driveway. I could always retract my offer, huh? That was good to know.

**Still lookin for a Beta if anyone's interested to bounce ideas around with. Love the reviews/pms! Keep um comin :)**


	13. Trick or Treat

**Sorry, it took so long...once I started, I kinda couldn't stop - so there was a lot of editing and this one still is a long one.**

**Thanks for the reviews and pms again - love um! **

EPOV

"Come on bitches! Hurry up!" Emmett yelled at us from downstairs. He was double checking the house before the Halloween party began. It was his annual event - his baby. I remember going to his party ever since I first started celebrating Halloween - it was tradition now: Jasper and I would get ready here, Alice and Rose would come later and then we would all sleepover once the party was over. Of course, it used to be going trick-or-treating, staying up late and eating as much candy as physically possible all while watching scary movies or telling ghost stories. The party has _changed_ a little bit since then.

I looked over to Jazz who was putting the finishing touches on his costume: a nerd. Not very original in my opinion, but at least he commits to it. He was dressed in red, green, and yellow plaid shots with bright red suspenders and matching knee high socks; along with a white, short sleeve Oxford shirt (pocket protector and all its paraphernalia) and white and black saddle shoes. I tossed him the obligatory black glasses with white tape around the nose, which were closer to me, while he parted his hair down the middle - emphasizing his "nerdiness". The only problem with the outfit was that he got the wrong size shirt, so instead of looking scraggly like you envision most "nerds", he looked pretty ripped. The cigarette hanging out of his mouth also didn't help. I let out an inaudible chuckle.

"Aren't you ready yet?" Emmett asked anxiously, popping his head in from the doorway.

"Almost. Calm the fuck down," Jasper calmly replied. "Can someone help me with the bow tie?"

"Don't look at me, my hands are full," Em said plopping down on his bed.

"And by full, you mean you just don't want to do it," I retorted, walking over and just doing it for him. He was completely helpless when it came to anything that tied - unless it was shoelaces or a corset.

A sly smile came across Emmett's face and he took a sip from his drink, "Precisely," letting out a loud ahh.

After I finished, Jasper walked over and stole his drink. "Thanks for the help, jackass," sprawling out on the other side of Emmett's bed.

"At your service J," taking his drink back. "Ok princess, are _you_ ready to go?" he asked, turning his attention to me

I checked myself in the mirror. I patted my pockets, making sure I had the business cards, fake knife and gun, and then straightened my tie, "Yup, good to go."

"Finally," Emmett let out with a huff, "let me just grab the gui-tar."

"Are you seriously going to wear that all night?" Jasper asked, putting out the rest of his cigarette. "Don't you think it's going to be way?"

Emmett strapped on the guitar, so that it hung to his side. "We'll see, I'm not if I'll wear it. I know I'm gonna start with it on though."

"Alright, let's head downstairs," I say, beginning to make my way to the door.

"Wait! Have you two been gone so long you've forgotten?" Emmett asks, holding the bottle of Herradura in one hand and the shot glasses in the other.

"Tequila? Really? I thought we've moved on from that?" Jasper asked. He's never been a fan of tequila.

"It's what we started on - its tradition," I answer, taking my large shot glass from Emmett's hand. This is how we've started the night since we were in junior high. Tequila was what we had gotten drunk off of our first time, which, coincidentally, was also the night of the Halloween party. This is probably why Jazz has such an aversion to tequila: he was way more fucked up that the rest of us that night.

I held up my glass, "To a good night," I announce, tipping my head to them.

"To a great fuckin night," Em corrects, nodding his head.

"Here here! Bring it on, bitches!" Jasper adds, smiling. We clink glasses and throw back the shots. This is going to be a good night.

***********************************************************************

There are a lot more people here than I expected - but I had been away for a while and this _was_ the place to be tonight. Emmett's parents, as well as the rest of the Forks upper crust, were at the Halloween gala - the annual fundraiser for Forks High. It just gave our middle-aged parents an excuse to dress up, get drunk, and do whatever the fuck they want for the night: so basically, turn into their children.

I headed over to here Jasper and Emmett, who were hanging out with some of the other guys in our grade and some girls I hadn't seen before. They looked younger - easy prey for my boys.

"Wat up, E?" Paul asked. I hate that nickname.

I cocked my head to the side, "What the fuck are you supposed to be?"

"Harry Potter. Isn't it obvious?" he answered quickly, clearly sensing the slight annoyance in my voice.

"I hate Harry Potter," I pause, "besides, I didn't take you as one to read much..." I retort. This was true - he wasn't exactly literary; he hated studying or anything that had to do with books. He was in Black's little circle, and Jake was the only one who actually cared about academics. The girls looked a little offended at this comment - they must be his little groupies.

Paul puffed up his chest a little, trying to make himself look more badass than he actually was, especially with a wand in hand. "Well, what the fuck are you supposed to be?" he spit at me and moved closer, trying to lure me into some kind of fight. He always did have a bit of a temper.

I pulled out a card and flung it at him, "Patrick Bateman?" he said with a puzzled look on his face. Emmett and Jasper pounded fists at the mention of him; they thought my costume was badass.

"Who's that?" one of the unidentified freshman asked with the slightest hint of an attitude. Her little entourage nodded their heads in agreement. Seriously, they are siding with Paul? I must be losing my touch or have been gone for too long. Not that I really care - no one gives a second thought to freshman.

"Well..." Emmett began to answer but was cut off by Bella, who had just showed up.

"Don't worry about it. Once you stop watching Disney Princess movies I'm sure you'll figure that out...even you Paul," she sweetly smiled at them and then dismissively looked away. The girls looked in awe at Bella, some in fear of future embarrassment, but mostly in admiration, wishing they could be like her. Paul, on the other hand, looked pissed but wasn't about to say anything to her, he just walked away - saying something under his breath.

"Well, well, well...you know your movies," I say to her.

"Of course I do. _I'm_ cultured," she said with a slight arrogance and a small laugh, while Em hands her a drink. I find myself laughing a little to this too, because she was right. How many girls here would be able to tell that my costume was from _American Psycho_? Maybe Rose or Alice, but that's just because the three of us have made them sit through the movie so many times.

She turned and took in what Jasper was wearing and tried to stifle a laugh - she probably noticed the shirt being too small for him too. While she was looking at him, I couldn't help but check out her costume. She was wearing some pretty short, black shorts with a gun holster slung low around her waist. A small, black, three quarter length leather jacket, which hugged all her curves in the right places and was strategically buttoned so that it was low enough that you could tell she wasn't wearing a bra, but not low enough that she would be worried about falling out. She finished off her look with some tall stilettos, aviators, and some very full hair...there was a sex kitten, 70's throwback look going on. And she definitely had the sex kitten look down perfectly.

"So, where are the rest of my Angels?" Emmett asked, grinning, with some girl dressed up like friggin Pocahontas on his lap and whispering something into his ear.

She looked around and pursed her lips, "They _said_ they were right behind me." She kept looking around and finally pointed, "I see them. Here they come!"

Rose and Alice bounced over and joined the group, handing Bella a shot. The girls looked at each other, said something I couldn't hear, clinked glasses and threw back their shots. None of them needed chasers to follow....I was proud of my girls. They had also brought another round of shots for the six of us. We all reached in, including Pocahontas, causing an annoyed sigh and eye roll from Rosalie while Alice swatted away her hand. This prompted Emmett to push the girl out of his lap.

"Happy Halloween guys!" Alice cheerfully said. We all downed our shots at the same time, almost as if we had perfectly timed it.

I felt my phone going off in my pocket; it was probably other saying 'Happy Halloween' but I reached for my phone anyway.

_Trick or treat bitch. How's the party goin? _

Jacob? I haven't heard from him in months, but this was his usual M.O. I quickly responded back.

_Party's good. What are you up to tonight? Trying to get with some blacked-out freshman?_

Yea, it seemed kinda messed up to say that, but it was true; when he was drunk he usually went with the easy targets. I shoved my phone back in my pants.

"So what are you guys supposed to be?" Jasper asked, specifically to annoy his sister and Alice. Both frowned when he said this.

"Positions!" Alice commanded. She and Rose jumped into their little position, while Bella reluctantly joined in. Alice was on one side, Rose in the middle, and Bella on the other side, all holding their fake guns and showing their "mean face". Some partygoers began taking pictures of them; the girls held there pose for the pictures - they loved the limelight. But who am I kidding, really, we all liked the attention and the notoriety we had.

"Oh!" Jasper said slapping the middle of his forehead, exaggerating his actions and words," you're supposed to be Charlie's Angels!"

Alice flipped him off and stuck her tongue out at him. Bella and I laughed at the same time, knowing that this was all part of Alice's little game. When we both realized we were laughing in tandem - we stopped immediately.

Jazz had to be joking, which I'm sure Alice was positive about, because the three of them looked like a cohesive unit and did look like Charlie's Angels: a mix from the TV show and the movie. Alice, wearing a pleated, short, black leather skirt and gun holster with a plunging white halter top - she was clearly Kate Jackson, since she had he short hair. Rose was unmistakably Farrah Fawcett, with the signature large Farrah hair, black leather bell-bottom (which were ridiculously tight), a gun holster, as well, and a short white tube top. Together, they looked like an ass kicking machine. Well, maybe that was a bit of a stretch, they at least were the best looking girls here - which is probably what they were going for.

"Alright, so you're a nerd, you're Patrick Bateman," Rose said, rolling her eyes at me and pointing her finger at each person, stopping at Emmett, "and you're..." letting out a quiet humph and scrunching her face.

He arched his eyebrows, pleased that he has stumped her.

"He's spandex boy!" Jasper gleefully announces. Emmett punches him in the arm.

Alice spins her finger, signaling him to turn around: he obeys. Her eyes dart from his red, spandex tights, to his red cape, to the wife beater with the 'G' on it, to his mask, and finally to the plastic guitar. "I get it, you're a 'Guitar Hero'!" she squeals and basks in her own genius.

"HA!" Bells lets out. "Guitar Hero my ass!" Alice and she laugh for a while at this. Rosalie, Jasper and I look at each other to see if we missed some sort of joke.

"Shut up!" Emmett snaps.

"Bells, we've hurt the poor baby's feee-wings," Alice mocks. They both move and sit on Emmett's lap - one on each leg, patronizingly patting his arm.

"It's ok Em, I'll make you look good tonight. I won't even play...if you are nice, that is," Bella said, moving her patting from his arm to the top of his head.

He stood up, knocking both girls to the floor. "You know, you aren't even _that_ good," Emmett said, mostly telling himself that.

"If you say so," Bella taunted in a sing-song voice.

"Fuck you. I'm gonna get a drink," Em said walking off to the kitchen, a little annoyed. Rose looked down at her drink and then Alice's, grabbing hers and following him off to the kitchen.

More vibrating came from my pocket.

_That's a bit harsh. Not untrue, but harsh. Better than your chances in good ole Forks though!_

I could almost hear him snickering through the phone - fucker.

_At least I don't need to have girls unconscious or blacked-out to fuck them. _

That seems like an acceptable response; should keep his mouth shut... for a while at least. I returned my attention back to the conversation at hand, but now it was just Bella standing there with my drink, a little zoned out. "Excuse me?" I asked arching my eyebrows towards her.

"What?" she asked flatly, but with a hint of mischief in her voice - it sounded like the alcohol was getting to her a little bit.

"You know what," shifting my eyes to my cup in her hand.

She followed where I was looking, "Oops, you caught me," throwing one hand up like I was going to arrest her, all while she was still sipping my drink. "But you weren't drinking it, sooo I thought you wouldn't mind."

I tried to hide my grin, but I don't think I was being very successful - she probably couldn't tell with the aviators on, anyway. Well, hopefully. "Can I have it back?" I asked politely.

"No."

"No?" I asked, intrigued.

"No. Besides its done now. You need to get yourself another drink..." she started, hinting at something.

"And you one too, I suppose," I stated, nodding my head at her. She beamed, very excited that I took her hint. Yes, she had to be drunk, or at least very close to it because she had _never_ acted this way. Well, she never acted this way around me - I wonder how much the girls had before they got here. She was actually being pleasant and fun to be around. So, apparently the key to Bella Swan being in a good mood: keeping her liquored up. "You wait here," she nodded her head.

I made my way to the bar, looking for the rest of our little group. Alice, Rose, and Emmett were on the dance floor while Jasper was playing beer pong with some of the lacrosse guys. I made my usual seven and seven for me and made Bella's vodka soda and returned to where we were standing. I handed her, her drink, "You remembered?" she asked, a little shocked and with a small, genuine, smile.

Her reaction threw me. I tried to run my hand through my hair, but remembered it was slicked back and stopped mid way, "Uh yea - most people don't like club soda."

"Yea, well I'm not most people," she replied and poked me on my nose. I scrunched my face at this, causing her to laugh. It made me laugh too.

Yes, she was definitely drunk; maybe I should stop her from drinking any more. "Yea, you definitely aren't like most people," I agree and take a rather large gulp of my drink - downing a third of the cup.

She scrunches her forehead, "You say that like it's a bad thing."

I shake my head at her response. "No, it most certainly is not a bad thing," I pause, thinking and just looking at her. "For one, you know who Patrick Bateman is. You also don't appear to be a big fan of Paul, his costume, Harry Potter, and/or all of the above - which scores huge points in my book," I say matter-of-factly and down another large gulp from my drink.

"Of course I know who Patrick Bateman is; Mikey makes me watch that movie all the time," she cups her hand, as if she's telling me some kind of secret and tries to whisper, "he has a huge crush on Christian Bale in that movie." She returns back to her normal voice, "And I've never liked Paul; he's kind of a dbag. But you are wrong about one thing, I do like Harry Potter. How can you not like those books - they're addictive... like crack."

I correct her, "I didn't say I didn't like the books, I like them plenty. All I said was that I didn't like Potter - he's a bit of a pansy for me. I'm more of a Diggory fan, but they killed him off too soon."

She tilted her head to the side, "Yea, they did kill him off too soon." She giggled and looked down at my drink, "You're the one done now. My turn to buy you a drink."

"But we don't have to buy drinks..."

"Exactly!" she said brightly and darted towards the stairs. I opened my mouth, about to ask her where she was going since the bar was down here, and realized she was going for the good stuff. The bottle of tequila. I hurried up the stairs, following her, but she was stopped outside Emmett's room. She motioned me to come closer and tried to mine something with her hands, pointing at the door. I couldn't understand what she was trying to say, though. "Huh?" I asked.

"Shhh," she whispered, "there are noises coming from in there and the light's on," she said pointing towards the door, again. She put her head to the door, trying to listen, and motioned for me to do the same. I moved so that my head matched hers, just higher up on the door, since I'm taller.

There were definitely noises coming from inside, but the big question was whose? It could be anybody really; everyone knew this was Emmett's room and that people weren't really allowed up here, so if they needed a quiet, unoccupied space, his room was the best bet. I listened some more. There was some soft grunts and then a 'Babe' came from behind the door. "OH!" I quickly moved my head away from the door.

As the loud 'Oh' escaped my lips, Bella pressed her hand to my mouth, slapping me a little in the process. "SHHH," she loudly whispered again, pressing her hand further into my face.

I reached up and peeled her hand away from my mouth. "I know who's in there, well one of the people," I whispered. She arched her eyebrows and held out her arms, mining 'Who?' to me. I waited to tell her, she looked so excited, almost giddy, and I have never really seen Bella this way before. Usually, around me she was fairly subdued, but right now, I could see the excitement in her eyes: they were sparkling. She hit me on the arm, displeased that I hadn't answered yet. "Emmett," I slowly told her with a wide smile on my face.

Her eyes grew wide. We both immediately put our heads back to the door in an attempt to find out who was with him in the room. Maybe Pocahontas? More noises were coming from inside, but nothing distinguishable, and most were coming from Emmett.

_*Thud* _Oww. Suddenly, I was in a brightly lit room, on the floor, with Bella on top of me. Why was Bella on top of me? I should've been trying to figure out what was going on, but instead I was focused on Bella. Well, more like Bella's hair - it was everywhere. It was all over my face, in my eyes and in my mouth, and down my neck. I reached to pull her hair out of my mouth. Hair did not taste good - especially with all that crap they put in it like hairspray and shit. Her hair did smell good though: very fresh, kinda like clean laundry with a hint of fruitiness and perfume. I brushed the rest of her hair off my face and tried to sit up a bit. Her little face looked up at me when I did this - we both started laughing and couldn't stop. She made a movement to get up, moving her hands from my chest to the floor. As she pushed herself up, I couldn't help but notice that her exposed chest was fairly close to my face. I tried angling myself so that I could get a better look down her jacket, but she was up too fast, damnit - she knew what she was doing and let out a triumphant smile as she looked down at me. She _was_ crafty.

"Hey guys!" she exclaimed and tried to suppress a laugh.

Her eyes darted to me and then to the bed. I followed her gaze and stood up as well. I rubbed my eyes, trying to make sure I was seeing clearly. "Hey Em... Rose?" I could hear the pitch of my voice go up.

"Come here often?" Bella asked with an amused smirk across her lips.

Rosalie was on top of Emmett on his bed - fully clothed, luckily. It looked like they froze in their positions when they heard us slam to the floor. Once they had realized what was going on Rose immediately stood up from the bed and began smoothing out her clothes. Emmett could give a shit; he stayed on the bed and made no attempt to cover up what we had just walked, no fell, in on. How exactly did we get in the room anyway?

Rose walked over to the bottle of tequila, "You guys want a drink? That's why we came up here." she asked.

I looked at her swollen red lips. Her hair was less than perfect, which she would never allow under most conditions, and her clothes were slightly askew. Getting a drink....sure. "Is that what the kids are calling it these days?" I ask, arching an eyebrow at Em. She narrowed her eyes at me, staring me down.

"It's exactly what you think it is," Emmett answers, smiling. Atta boy.

"Emmett!" Rosalie shrieks, turning and starring him down, now.

He looks over at her and gives her a sincere smile, "They're gonna find out eventually. This just speeds up the process."

She looks down and purses her lips, thinking about her next move. "Yea, I guess you're right."

"You mean this isn't some random fuck?" Bella asks, with a slight tone of astonishment in her voice.

"Bella; language," Rosalie reprimands, "and no, this isn't 'a random fuck'," as she air quotes.

"But..." Bella begins.

"Well, why're you guys in here and rudely interrupting?" Emmett asks, sitting up against his bed.

"Well, we _were_ actually getting a drink," I explain.

"Are you sure that's not some kind of code?" he asks, hinting at something else.

"No, we came up just for the bottle," Bella insists, no longer smiling.

"By all means, go ahead."

Rosalie already had the bottle in her hands and brought it over to the bed where the three shot glasses we used earlier were. Bella brought one more over and held it out for Rose to fill. "One more and then let's all go downstairs," Bella said. Everyone nodded. We downed the shots and made our way to the door.

Bella grabbed the bottle as we headed downstairs, "Rose? What happened, you didn't even like Emmett a couple days ago?"

********************************************

It was now the end of the night...and it had been a good night, like I anticipated. I reached over and grabbed the tequila bottle from Bella's hands - I wasn't about to let her finish off the bottle. After the shots in Em's room, we had been alternating taking swigs and right now I was feeling _verrry _good. A nice drunken buzz; it was fucking fantastic. We were sitting outside now - the five of us distancing ourselves from the rest of the party, except for Emmett, who was still ushering out drunken motherfuckers. Alice and Jasper were sitting on lounge chairs, Rose was on a hammock, Bella was laying across the diving board and running her hand along the water and I was sitting up, against the diving board - close to the tequila. My phone was going off again...it was kinda late for well wishes for Halloween - it was over now. I begrudgingly took out my phone.

_I got mine, while you didn't get yours, E. And keep an eye on my girl for me!_

Fuckin Jake, he always has to gloat. The other message was pretty clear though, keep an eye on _his_ girl - as in stay the fuck away from her. What's his problem anyway? Were they even together?

_Your girl? I haven't seen her all night. Last I heard she's been alone with Emmett in his room._

I snorted audibly -Alice and Jasper looked down at me. I took another swig of tequila, finishing the bottle.

Rosalie tried to run her hand through her hair but instead reached a tangled mess. "Alice, can you help me calm down my hair so that I can change?"

"Sure, no prob," Alice replies and jumps up from her chair. I don't know where she has the energy right now, but it probably stems from not drinking half a tequila bottle.

"Hey, Bella?" I ask.

She turns her head to look at me, resting it on the diving board, "Hmm?"

"How'd we get into the room earlier?"

She pauses, "I think I turned the knob by accident," she laughs. "My hand was resting on it and then all of a sudden I'm lying on top of you in the middle of the floor."

"What?" Jasper asks, his curiosity peaked. "The two of you were on the floor? With you _on top_ of him?" I could hear the smile in his voice without having to look at him.

Bella moves her arm, drenching his pants in water, "It's not what you think," she answers flatly.

"Uh huh," looking down at his pants, "what is it then?"

Bella and I look at each other, as if we are understanding some private joke - which we are I guess. "No really," I respond, "it's not our place to say."

"I'll say it then," Bella says looking up at the stars, "your sister and Emmett are together. Have fun with that one!"

I could see Jasper thinking, but mixed with the amount of alcohol he had tonight, I'm sure his thoughts weren't exactly logical. "WHAT? Fuckin'.... Rosalie!" he yells, getting up and making his way inside.

"No, I think that's Em's job now," Bella yells back.

I know Jazz could hear that, but all I could hear was a growling of expletives as he entered the house. "Good one," I tell her.

"Thank you," she responds, propping herself up so that she is sitting at the edge of the diving bored. I just watch her, unsure of what she's trying to do.

"So, are you glad you moved back?"

I think about that for a moment, cause I'm really not sure. "It's got its moments," I respond.

"YeaI understand," she slurs.

I move closer to where she's sitting. I'm sitting next to her on the floor while she's on the board. "You's miss LA?" I slur as well, apparently I'm drunker than I thought because I never slur.

She nods her head, "Yup. I mean I love Alice and Emmet, butI miss that whole scene and mys brother. Mikey's great.

I nod too, cause I know what she's talking about. I miss New York, but this is where I grew up so it's not exactly the same. "I getit."

I see her reaching into the pool trying to get a flower in front of her. "You're gonna fall 'n," I tell her.

"No I'm not," she states, reaching and edging closer to the edge of the diving board. This isn't smart; she's too drunk to fall in the pool and I'm too drunk to go in after her - on top of that I really don't want to ruin this suit.

"Stop reaching! You're too close to the edge."

"I'm fine. Just... a... little.... more..." she extended her arm more and then splash, she fell in the pool.

I fucking told her so. I look, she's still underwater, that's not good. I place my phone on the diving board - no sense in ruining that and then jump in after her....splash number two. I look for her but she's nowhere to be seen. I'm going further and further down - where the fuck is she. Did I even take a breath before I jumped in? Fuck... no! I try to swim up, but for some reason I'm not going up...am I drowning? Seriously, this is bullshit! I feel like a weight is pulling me down. All of a sudden I'm being dragged; this is it. I'm a goner; Emmett's gonna find me floating around the pool in the morning. The dragging continues and I feel some of the pressure alleviated and feel like I can breathe. "Am I in heaven? Are you an angel?"

"No retard, I just dragged your dumbass out of the pool. Drinking and swimming don't mix," she tells me. I take a deep breath in and I look at her, the person I thought was an angel was Bella. I must look like the biggest fucking idiot ever.

"I was trying to save you from drowning!" I tried to explain.

"Well thank you, but I canhandle myself. Apparently, you're the one who needs help in the water. Can't you swim?"

"Of course I can... just not right now," I tell her.

We both sit there, soaking wet, in our Halloween costumes. She keeps looking at the stars and then looking back at me, probably making sure that I'm still breathing. I can still smell her hair, "You smell nice," I tell her and then instinctively know I shouldn't have said that.

She looks at me and furrows her eyebrows, "Thank you?" She hesitantly comes a little closer to me now, "You smell nice too."

She stays close to me and I move a little closer to her, close enough to kiss her actually. So I do. Nothing serious, just a quick peck on the lips, "Thank you, too." What the hell am I doing?

She reaches for the tequila bottle - empty. Not exactly the reaction I was going for, but I'm not exactly sure why I did that anyway. At least she didn't push me back in the pool, cause I would definitely drown now. She climbs back up onto the diving board, reaching under her and grabbing my open phone. She looks up at the stars and my phone- then throws up, luckily not on the side I was on. "Goodnight Cullen," tossing my phone at me.

**Soooooo, I couldn't help myself with the hp reference. I know a lot of ppl see Pattinson in most ffs(though I don't ususally, but in this chapter I kinda did)...so I thought I would make that refernce. Let me know what you think...love it, hate it..indifferent. **

**Love reviews *hint hint* ;)**


	14. A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes

**Soo...sorry for all the recent updates, I've been cleaning up some of the earlier chapters (there will be one more - Ch 2), with the help of my fantastic beta thecornergirl! So again sorry for psyching you guys out with a new chapter, but here is the _actual_ new chapter!**

**Also, it took me forever to pin down which cars to use...Jasper's took me forever, so that was another hold up - let me know what you think of his car selection, because I agonized over the decision (well maybe not agaonized, but it def took some time)**

**Thanks for the reviews and pms - love ot hear from you guys.**

**It is a long chapter...so enjoy!**

BPOV

*Splash*

Wetness. What the hell is going on? I rubbed my eyes and slowly lifted my head up. Too fast and too bright. I lowered my head back down, stabilizing myself on... the _diving board_? What the hell am I doing outside? I reached for my sunglasses, groping the space next to me, but realized they were already on my face. Stupid aviators aren't dark enough to block out the sun; reminder, next pair has to be darker.

"Mornin' sunshine," a familiar voice spoke fairly close to me.

I braced myself to get up...or at least look up. I slightly tilted my head up and opened one eye to see where the voice was coming from. Emmett. In the pool. In a floating lounger. That had to be where the splash had come from. I, begrudgingly, pushed myself up and sat up at the edge of the diving board facing him. All I could manage to get out was some sort of humph or grunting noise, responding to his greeting. I'm was still out of it.

"Looks like someone had a rough night," he said with a smirk on his face..

I flipped him off and reached up to tie my hair back - I was sure it was a total mess. The mixture of teasing the crap out of my hair and hairspray, not to mention the moisture in the air from sleeping outside would have, I'm sure, made my hair a gigantic mess, full of knots. As I reached up to tie it back, it seemed like I had been spot on in my assumption because the scrunci couldn't even contain my hair. It was that big; that probably explained the smirk on Em's face.

"Where's Alice?" I finally managed to get out.

"She's not up yet. I decided that I'd get a swim in before brunch with the rents," he explained, holding onto the edge of the pool so that he could stay close by.

Ah crap, we were supposed to go to brunch with his parents today. That meant that I was going to have to get up fairly soon - shit. My eyes had finally adjusted to the light and being awake; I looked around to see where everyone else was. Was everyone still sleeping? And I could have sworn Edwa... Cullen, had fallen asleep out here too, but maybe he woke up and went inside.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked.

"Gone," as he sipped on some orange juice, "they had to leave early - going to look at Stanford for the rest of the weekend".

That worked out, then. I had the strangest dream about Cullen - well at least I thought it was a dream - and I really didn't want to see him right now. I reached down and grabbed Emmett's oj; I was really thirsty for some reason. He gave a me a weird look. "What? I'm thirsty," I stated. He just nodded and rested his head back on the floatie. Oh no; I know why he gave me a look. I looked to my side, preparing to see what I had thrown up last night, but it wasn't there. "Hmm?" I said quietly

Emmett looked up again, "What?" he asked confused.

Did he not know I had thrown up? I loved Emmett, but this was one thing that I knew he wouldn't let me live down; especially, if he had, had to clean it up. I leaned forward a little bit, trying to see if this was some kind of test to lure me into telling him - but he looked genuinely confused. But if he hadn't done it, who _had_ cleaned up for me last night?

"Uh...I was wondering how the incident with Jasper went last night?" That should throw him off, as I sipped on the juice.

"Oh yeah," he said annoyed and as he grabbed the juice away from me, "thanks for that last night. No juice for the tattler."

I frowned a little - I wanted that juice. I reached for it again, but he pushed off from the edge of the pool, moving him out of reach. "Why do you think it was me?"

He took a long, gloating, sip from the glass - bastard. "Well, one: cause Edward wouldn't tattle on me. And two: cause Jasper said you were the one who told him".

"Hearsay," I said dipping my feet into the pool.

"Suurrre."

"Anyways, what happened? He seemed a little...distressed last night," I said amused.

He looked down from his sunglasses, "Distressed? Really?"

I grinned. "All right, maybe distressed isn't exactly the correct word... enraged might be a little better," I said laughing a little.

"Yea, much better choice of words - he almost tore my fuckin head off, drunken prick. That was one of the reasons we were trying to hide this; to not let J find out while he was drunk because he generally overreacts," he said bringing the floatie closer to me and finally handing me the glass of juice.

"Thank you," I smiled sweetly, "but I don't think he's really overreacting. I mean considering your history with the opposite sex, and the fact that it's his sister..."

"Yea, but its different this time," he said with a resolved look on his face.

"Different?" I asked laughing and taking another sip.

"Yea. This is the reason I didn't want to say anything. No one believes me. I was the one who didn't want to say anything, not Rose. It really is different - I actually feel different," he said as if he was thinking out loud and forgot that I was there.

Now this was a first; _he_ didn't want to say anything? He always wanted to tell us about his latest conquests...maybe this was something genuine. Rose wanted to tell people, so this was serious for her too? "Alright," I said still a little skeptical, "well if you're happy, then I'm happy for you. But I'm pretty sure that I was easier to win over to your side than Jasper was."

He nodded in agreement, "Yea, it took a while - and I still don't think he believes me. I believe his words were: 'I'll believe it when I see it,' and 'You're on fucking thin ice -like wafer thin'. Then he let it go, but he wouldn't leave the room and kept looking at me until he finally passed out. I know I'm bigger than him, but he's one scary motherfucker when you've pissed him off."

"What about Alice? How'd she react?" I asked, dipping a little more into the pool, I was starting to get warm.

He shrugged, "She was a little shocked, but was over it. She helped calm Jasper down".

Yea, I bet she was helping Jasper calm down, I thought to myself.

He looked at the clock near the pool house, "You'd better go check on Alice and take a shower; they're supposed to be home in half an hour or so".

I nodded and stood up. Oh, my head was definitely pounding - how much did I exactly drink last night? More importantly, what happened last night? I remember the majority of the night, but there were some holes. I opened the door leading from the patio to the kitchen, in hopes of finding some aspirin - which luckily was sitting on the counter. Apparently Emmett needed some too. I popped open the bottle grabbing two pills and a bottle of water from the fridge before heading up to our room.

I dragged myself up the stairs. This was a feat - I haven't been this hung over in a very, _very_, long time. I blamed Cullen - this was all his fault. I reached the guest bedroom, which Mr. and Mrs. McCarty had generously given to me and Alice since we frequently stayed over. The room had been decorated to suit our personalities and even had a name placard over our respective beds. If those had been in our own rooms, both of us would have hated it, thinking it was a little juvenile, but here, it just fit and was quite charming. I slowly opened the door, incase Alice was still sleeping.

"Hey," she said wrapped up in a towel and scrunching her face together. "What happened to you? Bird try to nest in your hair?" she joked staring at my hair.

"Shut up," I said moving past her and straight into the bathroom. I could hear her laughing as I turned the water on and waited for it to get warm.

"I think that jacket might be ruined," she said grabbing the jacket from the floor. I had to peel it off since I was _apparently_ soaked last night - the leather had stuck to my skin and was somewhat difficult to get off. "You might have to ship it out to LA to get it fixed," she thoughtfully stated; Alice hated seeing clothing go to waste.

I hopped in the shower, glad that it was finally warm and that I could condition the hell out of my hair. "Yea, probably," squeezing some shampoo on my head. "So how was the throw-down between Em and Jasper last night?" I asked slightly yelling over the shower sound.

"SO INTENSE!" she said excitedly and opened the shower door slightly, popping her head in. She brought the vanity bench over and sat next to the shower, so that we could hear each other better. "Did you talk to Emmett about it?"

"Yea," I said as some bubbles wafted through the door opening, apparently too much shampoo. "He said it started out rough but got better."

She sighed. "Rough's one way to put it... Jasper looked like he was going to fucking kill him. I was going to get Edward to calm him down, but I didn't think it was a good idea to leave the two of them alone. What exactly did you tell him Bella?" she asked swatting at some of the bubbles that escaped.

I thought about it for a second, but honestly couldn't remember - what's going on with me? "Um... I don't know. I know I told him something - but what I exactly said, I have no clue," I said rinsing out the suds.

"Well, whatever it was, it riled him up. When I had left with Rose he was really calm, in fact, I thought he was gonna pass out in the lounge chair. But five minutes later, he burst in the room yelling at Emmett."

"Well, all the alcohol didn't really help - it probably just made matters worse. I probably shouldn't have said anything, but I was clearly not thinking last night," I said, as I dumped half the conditioner bottle on top of my head.

"Yea, what exactly happened with you last night? You were totally MIA," she said sticking her head in again.

"I wasn't the one who disappeared, bitch. I looked for you all night but I couldn't find anyone," I said, now sticking my head out of the shower.

"Couldn't find anyone except Edward, hmmm?" she asked, arching her eyebrows.

I deflected some water onto her from the shower. "It's not what you think," I protested, "neither of us could find anyone else, or we _would _have separated or at least joined you guys. But you were probably off somewhere trying to seduce Jasper," I said.

Silence followed, meaning I was probably correct.

"Well, what is it then?" she asked, avoiding the question. "Under normal circumstances you would've dragged me from wherever I was; you hate being alone with Edward".

This was true; I did dislike it when it was just the two of us - but last night was kinda fun...for what it was. "Not hate, strongly dislike," I thoughtfully replied.

"What?! When did this change?" she asked surprised.

"Well, nothing has really changed," I quickly replied, "but last night piqued my curiosity. And really, who was I supposed to hang out with since all of you were occupied or couldn't be found, Paul and Stanley? Fuck no! He was my last resort," I told her.

"That's true, I suppose," she said leaning back against the wall - I could tell she was hoping something else had come of our hanging out. "Well, did anything else of _interest_ happen?"

I ran a hand through my hair, the knots were coming out - thankfully. "Of interest? Well, your cousin almost drowned and I had to jump in afterwards".

"What?" she said a little chocked, "he can swim."

"Well, apparently not while drunk," I laughed. "He was fine, except for maybe a bruised ego over me having to save his ass," I said ringing out my hair and turning off the water.

Alice handed me a towel. "Well, that I'm sure of. His ego probably was a little bruised - he fucking thinks he's the best at everything," she said a little annoyed. That was calling the kettle black, because she thought the exact same thing - must run in the family.

"Thank you lovey," I said grabbing the towel from her and stepping out of the shower. "I also had this weird dream, though".

This piqued her curiosity, causing her to get a little overly excited. "A dream? About Edward?" she practically squealed.

"Sort of..." I said disinterested and trying to calm her down, "I think it was him. We were just talking and he was just being really nice - which is why I don't really think it was him," I paused.

She hit me in the arm. I was unsure of if it was because I had said her cousin wasn't nice to me or because I had stopped - either would have warranted a hit in Alice's opinion.

I gave her a look and continued. "He said something about my outfit, or that I smelled nice and then he kissed me: a quick peck," I explained and could feel my cheeks warming a little.

I could see a small glimmer in her eye - I hope she's not getting any ideas. "Well, that's not much," she said trying to play it cool, to see if that was really it. "Anything else?" she asked brushing her hair.

"Nope, just that. That's all I really remember."

She stopped brushing. "Well, did you like the kiss?"

I rolled my eyes; should've seen that one coming. "It was a dream Alice," I tried to impress on her.

She turned to face me, "Yes, it was a dream, but that doesn't mean you didn't like what happened in it. I fucking dream about Ryan Reynolds, but do you hear me complaining?"

I turn and looked at her, too, now, "Alice, those are fantasies, not dreams."

"Potato, Potatoo - they're the same thing," she reiterated.

"Whatever, it was a dream. It was whatever; it doesn't mean anything. We'd better get ready to go - they are gonna be here soon and we've got to get to brunch," I said trying to change the topic. It had actually been an alright dream, nice even - but I wasn't about to tell Alice that; she'd be planning a wedding before I had even finished my sentence.

"Fine," she let out defeated, knowing I wasn't going to tell her anymore, and walked to her overnight bag.

*************************************************************

_Come on Rose, where the fuck are you...we're gonna be late_

I texted her. Seriously, ever since she and Emmett decided to go public with their new love affair, she's been late and a pain in my ass ever since. Like right now. We were going to be late for school because she was doing - god knows what - in preparation for seeing her _Emmett_. It was actually quite sickening watching the two of them together. I could understand why Jazz couldn't be around them for too long anymore; it was nauseating for me being around them and I wasn't even related to her.

She whipped around the corner in her cherry red BMW - with the top down of course. "Sorry, sorry.. I didn't mean to be late. I just.." she pleaded.

"Yea, I know, you just lost track of the time," I huffed sarcastically at her, annoyed and tossed my stuff into the back.

"Really Bells, I'm sorry. It won't happen again," she apologized.

Yea, I've heard that one before.

She did look sorry, though, she even stopped the car to apologize. I shrugged and gave her a small smile. "Well, ya gotta look good for your man, I suppose," accepting her apology.

She reached over the clutch and gave me a hug, "Yay! And you're right, I'm gotta look fabulous for Em," she said flipping her long, blonde hair behind her and flashing a sparkling smile. "Better buckle up, we've gotta haul ass to Alice's".

And I did. Rosalie liked to drive fast and she loved any excuse to drive way over the speed limit. I, on the other hand, was a bigger fan of not dying and drove at a reasonable speed; which was unheard of for Rose. We were at Alice's and then the school in no time flat, we were even there early...even though we should have been about five minutes late to class.

The Beemer pulled into its usual spot, next to Emmett's gigantic monstrosity of a car, the Beast as I call it: his red, tricked out, Hummer H2. I suppose he felt all manly in that car, cause it looked like it ate other cars, but I guess it fit him. What exactly was he supposed to drive, a Mini Cooper? Emmett quickly walked over to Rose's side and opened up the door for her - apparently it was too much for her to even open a damn door. I looked over at Alice, who also looked equally annoyed by the gesture.

"Where are Jasper and Edward?" Alice asked.

Emmett shrugged and then returned his attention to Rose. The two of them began walking towards their first class without a second glance back at me and Alice. Yes, I definitely was getting sick of the two of them together, but hopefully this was just a phase.

"Is it just me, or did you like Em better when he was trying to fuck anything that walked?" Alice asked me with a half smile.

I smiled back at her, "I'm with you on that one sister." We both began laughing as we walked to our class since the other two had yet to arrive. I heard someone calling my name from a distance.

"Bella.... Hey Bella wait up!" Victoria cried, quickening her step to catch up with us.

Alice gave me an annoyed look, she didn't really like having to socialize with the underclassmen, but there seemed to be more to it than just that today. "Get rid of her," she warned, "I'm not in the mood today."

"Alright, let me just see what she wants," I whispered to her.

We watched as she approached us holding two cups of coffee, one for me and the other for herself. She handed me my coffee, which I gave to Alice, and yanked her drink out of her hand for myself; Alice was having a bad morning, she deserved some free coffee. Victoria tried to contain her shocked expression as I took her coffee away, but had let it slip a little; if she was trying to get in well with the big girls she'd have to get used to this, paying her dues, and couldn't let these types of small things bother her.

"What's up?" I quickly asked her, as Alice kept looking down at her watch - the coffee appeared to appease her for the time being.

"Nothing really, I just wanted to talk to you about some ideas for the auction," she stated enthusiastically, but was quickly silenced by Jasper's roaring engine which had just made its way into the parking lot.

The car came to a halt two inches from where we were standing. Jazz and Cullen popped out of the car. I looked down to make sure that thing didn't hit me.

"Good morning ladies," Jasper greeted us.

Alice nodded towards him with a tight smile and then made her way over to Cullen as soon as he opened the door, probably annoyed with the fact that I still was talking with Victoria. "Um, I'll talk to you later about this. Bye," I stated bluntly, signaling for her to leave.

I directed my attention to Jasper now, "You almost hit me with this thing. If you had, it would be on the way to the junk yard right now," I told him and scanned the area, making sure that Victoria had left, but she was lingering in the background.

"B, this is a classic Shelby. It's an antique, a collectible, a..." he began, walking over to me.

"An old piece of junk?" Alice retorted, completing his sentence with a victorious smile.

He rolled his eyes at her, "Just because it's not a luxury car or brand fucking new, doesn't mean it's not a good car. Besides, it probably cost more than yours," he said smugly, directing his last comment at me.

"Whatever," I respond. I'm really not a fan of older cars and in particular Mustangs, they just seem so cliché.

We began walking to class and Jasper looked over to Edward for support. "Sorry, but I'm with the girls on this one. It might be fast, but that's it - and it's got nothing on my car," he said with a wink.

*********************************************

I couldn't wait for lunch, it was just one of those days, and it was almost here. I was in Psych and in six minutes it would be lunch. I took my notes and listened to the lecture but my mind kept wandering to topics that I didn't want to be thinking about, mostly Cullen.

Things really hadn't been that different since the Halloween party, which is good, but I just thought that maybe it would have been a little different. In French we barely spoke to each other; mostly just sitting there in silence with the occasional sentence being uttered when we had to work in pairs. But, occasionally, there would be eye contact and it would just feel different - not that this had prompted us to talk and usually one of us would break eye contact as soon as the other person noticed.

And on top of this I couldn't get that fucking dream kiss out of my head. Why was I thinking about this kiss so much? It wasn't like I was obsessing about it...well maybe I was a little bit, but just because this was so not how I thought about him. It was probably just because we had a good night at the party and we were having fun - that had got to be why I had that dream...got to be.

"Um...are you planning on leaving?" Emmett asked looking down at me.

"Huh?" I answered, a little startled and with a confused expression on my face.

"The bell rang. Time to go to lunch," he stated stretching out the last sentence.

I looked up at the clock, apparently I was so deep in thought I hadn't even heard the bell ring, great. "No, you go ahead. I've gotta pack up, it's cool," I smiled at him.

"I can wait if you want," he said about to put his bag down and wait for me.

I didn't get this much anymore - it was nice having it just be me and Em, they way it used to be. "No, its fine. I'm sure Rose is waiting for you. Go," I tell him. He waited to make sure, but I waved him off, and he left the room.

I gathered my stuff as Dr. Leonard approached my desk. "Is everything alright Bella? You seemed a little distracted during class," she asked with a concerned look on her face.

I smiled at her, "Yes, everything's ok. Thanks for asking though." And I was glad she asked; not many of the teachers around here would, or would even notice something was wrong.

"Well, I'm always here if you want to talk," she told me placing a hand on my shoulder and then walking back to her desk.

"Thanks," I said and began to walk towards the door and then stopped. "A quick question, do dreams mean anything?" I asked her.

"Well, that all depends on what they're about," she said with a warm chuckle. "What did you dream about?"

There would be no harm in talking to her about this; she's impartial and doesn't know about any of the back history; but I should probably still keep it fairly generic and vague. "I just had a dream about someone that I don't usually think about and wondered if it meant anything...or why I'm thinking about it so much," I explained to her.

"Well, the first part of what you said is pretty obvious, at least I hope so or I'm not a very good teacher," she said with a laugh and waited for my response.

I cocked my head to the side and gave her a half smile, "Well, I know it means that you are thinking about that person or that you had some sort of interaction with that person recently - I _do_ pay attention in class. But why am I thinking about it so much - I usually don't even remember my dreams or don't give much thought to them if I do."

"Well...I can't tell you why you're thinking about it so much - only you can tell me that one. Maybe things are changing between the two of you or maybe your subconscious wants them to change; it could be a lot of things. But it is a little strange if you don't normally remember your dreams and you are remembering this one - maybe its routed in something that already happened, like you are repressing something you aren't ready to confront yet or just don't remember. Dreams, a lot of times, are from snippets of reality and are exaggerated or made fantastical," she said thoughtfully and looked at her watch. "I would really love to talk about this more with you Bella, but I have a lunch meeting at the University of Washington so I have to go. We'll talk about this later, though, ok?" she asked.

I nodded my head and continued to the doorway, "Thanks and have a great lunch," I told her and continued to walk to the lunch room. I wondered if what she had said was true, that something from my dream actually happened.... No, that can't be. It _couldn't_ have actually happened, I _would_ have remembered that; or at least he would have. Maybe he does, but he's just not saying anything. Maybe he wants me to bring it up. Get a grip! I really am obsessing over this...this didn't actually happen Bella!

I tried to put it out of my mind and pushed open the door to the lunch room seeing our usual table. No one was there except Cullen and Paul and Embry. Why were _they_ there? I tried to hear what they were talking about as I walked to the table but they were talking too quietly and as soon as I sat down they got up.

"Bella," Paul said giving me a slight nod. "Well, we'll see you around Cullen," Paul said flatly and slightly staring him down.

"Yea, see ya," Cullen replied. His eyes were hard with a slight fire behind them, keeping Paul's stare until they turned to leave.

I waited until they were out of earshot, "What was that about?" I asked him.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it," he said abruptly and looked down at his lunch.

After that we both picked at our lunch in silence. After 20 minutes of the awkwardness, he decided to breech the silence, "So, where is everyone?" he asked.

I shrugged, I had no idea where anyone was - it was weird that they were _all_ gone, "I dunno," I answered.

"Oh," he said, leaning back in his chair and taking a swig of water.

"Well, Rose and Em are probably occupied..." I said with a snicker.

He joined in and laughed as well, "Yes, they do seem to be joined at the..._hip_ these days. And, as I do remember, this is all your fault that we have to live like this now," he said jokingly.

"My fault?" I said a little shocked. He nodded his head once agreeing with my question. "How is this my fault?"

He scooted his chair a little closer to the table, thus closer to me since we were sitting across from each other. "You were the genius who decided to tell Jazz and let the proverbial cat out of the bag," he answered me.

Ah crap, I did tell him. "Uh yea....I guess I did," I said a little sheepishly, "but I wasn't exactly in top form that night, so it really shouldn't be held against me."

He laughed at this. What, why was this funny? He laughed a little harder when I clearly didn't get what he was laughing at. "Did I make a joke or something?" I asked slightly irritated.

He coughed, trying to stifle a laugh. "No, I was just agreeing with you," another muffled chuckle escaped his lips," - you were not in top form at all. You kinda threw up everywhere," he answered.

I started to feel my face reddening - of all people he was the one who saw me throw up? Damnit! "Uh, you saw that, huh?" I said quietly, trying to suppress the embarrassment.

He stopped laughing and his green eyes softened, "Yea, but don't worry about it, it happens to the best of us. And, I'm the only one who saw, so your secret's safe with me."

"You're not the one who..." I began to ask, but didn't need to finish. He shifted his eyes down so that I couldn't see and he bit the right side of his lip. Ah crap, he cleaned up after me too? There was no way I was going to be able to suppress this embarrassment.

"It's no big deal. Don't worry about it," he said after a minute of silence and seeing that I was probably bright pink. The only people who had seen me thrown up were all family members, and usually it was because I was actually sick. I felt bad, really bad - and mortified all at the same time.

"No, it is a big deal," I said adamantly. "Thanks for helping me out and not telling anybody, Cullen," I said genuinely - I began to reach my hand out to touch his, but stopped and quickly reached it back.

There was another awkward silence, but this time it was because neither of us knew where to go from there. He broke the silence yet again. "Cullen?" he said squinting his eyes, like he was trying to figure out why I had said that, "I thought we were on a first name basis here?" he said smiling and trying to lighten the mood.

I thought about it; this would be a big step for me to call him Edward again, but he did kind of deserve it. Cleaning up vomit did warrant some sort of reciprocal gift, or at least signified I could trust him a little bit. I half smiled at him, "Alright, _Edward_."

"See that wasn't so hard, _Bella_" he said giving me a crooked smile and tossing his empty water bottle into the trash.

We started gathering our stuff as the first warning bell went off. Alice walked towards us, departing from the cheer squad - apparently that's where she had been all lunch. "Where's everyone else?" she asked as she got to the table.

Edward shrugged, but then pointed at Rosalie and Emmett who were walking into the lunch room from the back entrance. The second bell went off as Jasper walked in, straightening out his clothes, followed by Stanley who was doing the same.

*******************************************************

This had been a long meeting and I was completely ready to go. I had heard enough about the charity auction and it had actually given me a headache. I cut the meeting short due to this and was now looking for Rose and Alice so we could leave. They were both probably at the field since today was the first day of lacrosse practice and all the guys play. As I got closer to the end of the hall, I could see Rose on the bleachers watching the practice but Alice wasn't there; so I went looking for her.

I searched the spots Alice usually was: the yearbook room, the lunchroom, the girl's lounge, but she wasn't there. I went to the last room where she could sometimes be found, the ASB room, and I heard her voice from in there, but she wasn't alone.

"What the fuck were you doing with her?" Alice yelled; she was obviously mad at someone. I inched a little closer so that I could hear better but still not be seen.

"I wasn't doing anything," Jasper said coolly - apparently he was the other voice.

"Don't give me that bullshit. I'm not an idiot," she said a little softer but with more intensity behind her words.

"What does it even matter to you? You said we weren't exclusive; that you 'couldn't give a shit' if I fucked anyone else," he snapped back at her.

"That's true," she said calming her voice. This wasn't good, whenever Alice got really calm she was the most mad, "so it wouldn't bother you if I went and fucked Tyler, then. I mean he's cute, smart, got a great personality..." she said toying with him.

" Alice..." Jasper said, now raising his voice.

I took out my mirror from my bag and held it out in front of me so that I could see what was going on in the room without them seeing me. I felt a little like a spy; pleased with myself that I had thought of this.

"What?" she said softly.

He walked over to her and held her by the waist, "Don't go and hook up with him, just to spite me," he told her calmly slumping his head down.

What was going on? Had something happened between them and she didn't tell me.

"Well...that's what you did," she said quietly and tried to walk away from him, but he brought her back and now they were facing each other.

"No, I didn't do anything with her...I was trying to make a point," he said with a small smile.

Man, this was better than watching a movie. I inched a little closer, wanting to make sure that I could see and hear everything that was about to be said.

"But you both walked in... it looked like you..." she stuttered

"That was the point," he said shrinking down and looking her in the eyes. "After the fight we had a couple days ago, I wanted to make a point, making sure you were in it for the long haul because you know I am. Besides, you know I would never touch that skank," he said with a smile. "I had seen her hooking up with Jarred, so I figured I could use that to my advantage."

I could hear Alice laugh and saw her expression change, "Well, that changes some things...because if my boyfriend were to have fucked Jessica Stanley I would have to kill myself!," she said cheerfully.

They kissed and an 'aww' escaped my lips. They both stiffened. Ah crap! Today was just not my fucking day. I quickly put my mirror back in my purse just before Jasper popped his head out the door. I nervously smiled at him.

"How long have you been standing outside the door?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Umm..." I started.

"Bella, get in here!" Alice beckoned, "you've been standing there the whole time, haven't you?"

I tried to think of excuses but nothing was really coming to me. I guess the truth was in order, "You caught me, but I'm so happy for you guys!" I said enthusiastically.

"Well I'm glad we have your approval," Jasper teased.

"Just don't tell anyone yet, please Bells," Alice pleaded, "we don't want anyone to know yet."

Lucky me, I discovered another couple - this time I was keeping it to myself. I was not going to cause anymore unneeded drama. "Of course I won't say anything...as long as you guys aren't like fucking Rosalie and Emmett," I said giving them both a knowing look.

"Don't worry about that," Jasper stated, "that's another thing my sister and I don't have in common - I have boundaries," he laughed.

"Well, we better go. You've gotta get to practice J," she said sweetly to him.

He looked down at his watch. "Fuck, I'm going to be doing laps all damn night," he sighed, "but it was worth it. And I'm glad that we can be normal in front of someone," he chuckled. He kissed Alice briefly, waved at me, and jogged down the hallway.

As soon as he was gone Alice squeezed my hand and squealed, "Eeee! We're together!"

I looked at her while arching my eyebrow, "I thought it was just a 'one time fuck'?" I said sarcastically.

"Well....it was to begin with - then it just progressed. Oh, and I knew you were standing there the whole time, I saw the mirror. Haven't I taught you anything, you hold it this way so the other people don't see your hand," she stated and took the mirror away, demonstrating how it should properly be done.

"Thank you sensei," I joked. "Well, I figured you would, but I thought you wouldn't mind," I shrugged.

"You were right, I didn't," she said again all excited, it was like she planned to have me catch her and find out about her and Jasper. In fact, she probably did plan it. "And this is just so exciting. The trip coming up, we can do coupley things and you can run interference for us," she told me.

"Oh no, no, no. I'm happy for you, but 'alone' people don't want to hear about or run interference for 'together' people....it's just gloating and unfair. Besides, that's the last thing I need to hear or see right now. It might give me ideas that I don't want to think about," I told her.

She had a mischievous grin on her face. "Still thinking about the dream, huh?" she asked nudging me.

I was silent; I wasn't about to tell her that I still was.

"Well, maybe you should have those ideas," she said softly.

"I heard that," I tell her, nudging her back.

"That was the point," she said laughing, "this is going to be one hell of a trip."

**I think you guys know where this is going....the LA trip is next. Get excited!**

**Soo...what you think? **


	15. Takeoff

**So here's the first of two LA chapters... sory it took me so long to get this to you guys, but I had a family emergency, which kinda dominated the past two and a half weeks.**

**But...as a reward, this chapter's a little longer and part 2 of LA is on the way.**

**Again, the glorious thecornergirl beta'd this - mad props to her!**

**Let me know what you think.. reviews would be lovely :)**

EPOV

"Are you ready?!" Alice exclaimed.

Her excitement was a little annoying.

She was jumping all over me, much like a little dog would, but near my shoulders instead of near my legs. "Why are you being such a Debbie Downer? Everyone else is psyched and ready to go; you're the only one who looks like he has a fucking stick up his ass. Smile bitch!" she semi-teased.

I looked around the tarmac and everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves, excited for the trip and a long weekend away from the parents. There was a buzz in the air from everyone except me. Even Jazz, who usually didn't get too excited over anything, seemed a little giddy. Alice was right; I was being a downer. I was just physically exhausted from lacrosse all week, I was out of shape. I was also mentally drained from thinking about the events which had gone on the past week or so with Bella and the pseudo threats from Paul and Embry, a la Jacob.

I put a smile on my face, though, and tried to feign enthusiasm for her sake. "I'm smiling. Are you happy now?" I asked.

She smiled back. "I'm delighted," she retorted and turned her back to me in time to see a limo approach.

I knew it must be Bella and her parents; they were the only ones who had yet to arrive and the people who we were waiting for. The limo door swung open and out came her father, who looked like he was on his way to a board meeting. Her mother stepped out next, dressed in some sort of short Juicy jumpsuit and large straw hat. Bella climbed out last, wearing a white, purple and blue shirt dress which barely covered her ass. They were a very eclectic group this morning and it looked like Bella and her mother were going to freeze - the weather right now definitely did not deem shorts and light clothing. As soon as they were out of the limo her father automatically got on the phone and proceeded to board the plane, giving a slight wave to all of us.

"Sorry kids, he's on an emergency business call - so much for this being a social and stress-free weekend!" Bella's mom said as she shrugged, laughing, and then followed her husband into the plane.

Bella walked over to where the rest of us were waiting. "Morning all," she said yawning and running her fingers through her hair.

"Where did you get this dress? It's fantastic! " Rosalie demanded as she pointed at her outfit. Alice nodded her head in agreement.

"Why thank you. And its DVF daawling," Bella responded with a fake British accent.

"That is not a dress," Emmett bluntly stated.

"Is too," Bella replied, a little annoyed.

"Is not," Em answered back, as if that was a challenge.

This looked like it could go on for a while because neither were backing down.

"Alright children," I intervened, "I think it's time to board the plane."

They both looked at each other, as if to see who was going to make a first move, but then started laughing. This must be typical behavior between the two of them because Alice and Rosalie had already started walking towards the plane. I'd been back for a couple months now, but I still wasn't sure what was the normal dynamics of the group. Once Emmett had noticed how far ahead the other two were, he began jogging to catch up to them and Jasper followed him - leaving me and Bella by ourselves.

"You know, he's right. That's not a dress," I told her, smirking.

"Says who? You? Since when are you the authority on fashion and what I should or shouldn't wear?" she asked sarcastically and went to reach for her bag.

Anticipating her action, I reached down and grabbed her bag for her.

"Allow me," I stated coolly.

She hesitated and then nodded. "Thanks," she said with a small smile.

I nodded back. "And yes, I dictate all things fashionable. Didn't you know?" I chuckled as we began to walk to the plane. "And, I never said you _shouldn't_ wear it; I just said that, _that_ is not a dress - just a long shirt."

"Well I'm sorry Mr. Lagerfeld," she laughed, "I'll be sure to clear all future outfits with you."

We stepped up to the stairs and I waited for her to go up. "Ladies first," I directed her.

She proceeded and began climbing the stairs. "You just want me to go first so that you can check out my ass," she yelled back at me.

I tilted my head slightly - she wasn't entirely wrong there. "No I don't," I yelled back at her as a huge grin spread across my lips.

************************************************************

I felt nudging going on. Someone was trying to get my attention. I opened my eyes and looked down at my watch - I had only been asleep for ten minutes and now we were landing, damnit. I had wanted to get in a nap before we landed but everyone kept yammering on.

"Move it bro," Emmett called out and nudged me again.

I let out a soft growl and pushed away his hand. I was a tad bit annoyed.

"Geez, someone's a little grumpy," Em teased as he made his way further down the aisle.

I looked out the window: a beautiful, clear, sunny, warm day. I then looked down at what I was wearing: jeans, a thermal, a sweater, a jacket, and a beanie - shit I was going to roast. I reached in my pocket; at least I had my sunglasses on me. I pulled them out and put them on as I slowly made my way towards the exit.

"Come on! Hurry your ass up Edward!" Rose yelled at me - I could almost hear her annoying foot tapping.

I looked up at her, about to flip her off, but then realized Bella's parents were there. That probably wouldn't be the best of ideas; coming off as the crude asshole who didn't say one word on the flight. Instead, I grunted and just continued on down the stairs. I made my way over to the group who looked like they were saying goodbye to Bella's parents.

"Honey, we're going to the house first and then I'll be with the girls the rest of the day. If you need anything, just call the cell. Have fun you guys! Say hi to the boys for us. Love you!" Bella's mom stated as she got into the town car waiting for them.

"Sorry bout all this princess - you know how work is. We'll see you guys for dinner?" her dad asked.

I looked to Bella who just shrugged. "Dunno yet dad. We'll definitely see you in the morning though for the game," she told him.

"I should have known; you guys don't want to hang out with the old people all weekend," he joked and reached down to kiss Bella on the forehead. "Have fun kids," he stated and then followed his wife into the car.

The towncar began to drive away when then window rolled down. "Oh Bells, I almost forgot to tell you, your car will be waiting at the hotel for you," her mom shouted as the car drove away.

We all stood there waving until the car was gone. As I just stood there, I was getting hot. It looked like our luggage was already in the limo waiting for us - I couldn't wait to get in there where there would be air conditioning; now _I_ was getting anxious.

"So, are you guys ready to go?" Bella asked.

Before she could even finish her sentence I was already in the limo. "Yes, let's go," I said. Everyone was looking at me funny, probably because I basically sprinted into the car. "What?" I asked.

"You're a weird one. You know that right?" Jasper asked as he slid into the car, following my lead.

I nodded, cause really, I probably was acting a little odd. The rest of the group followed suit and soon we were on our way to the hotel. As soon as the car started moving I rolled every window possible down. I was literally dying, was I the only one? It was 10 am, how was it so fucking hot already? Bella looked over at me and then out the window in an attempt to stifle a laugh.

"What?" I asked her as I tried to play it cool; which was quiet difficult to do when I was sweating to death.

"Hmm?" she asked and turned her head towards me, "are you speaking to me?"

Everyone else was too engrossed in their own conversations, or each other to really notice what was going on with me, except for Bella. So of course it was her, and she knew it too. Rose and Emmett...well what else was new with them, but Jasper and Alice? I thought Alice's _little phase_ had already passed.

"Well, who else would I be talking to?" I asked her and moved a little closer to the open window to get more air. I pointed at the other four in the limo. "The lovebirds? I think we could drive off a cliff and they wouldn't even notice. And the other two? Alice, apparently, isn't done with her little experiment," I whispered to her.

Again, Bella looked like she was trying to conceal a giggle, this time with a cough - which was slightly odd.

"Alright, so you were talking to me..." she responded. "What's up?" she asked as she brushed her hair out of her eyes.

"I was just wondering what you found so funny before?" I asked again, reiterating my initial question.

She paused for a moment, like she was thinking, and then her face changed a bit: it lit up slightly, but she tried to conceal this too. She looked at me and scooted a little closer.

"I was just thinking that if those were the only type of clothes you brought, that you are going to die. It's going to be ridiculously hot this weekend. You should just get rid of everything and just get out of those clothes," she explained rather flirtatiously as she reached for the shoulder of my jacket as she pulled at it a little and then let go.

Really? Was she seriously flirting with me right now? In front of everyone? Was she high? No, she couldn't be; there must be some ulterior motive behind this. But, I had to find out because there seemed to be some sort of sincerity behind her actions.

"Excuse me?" I said, trying to keep my voice and facial expression as calm as possible.

I wanted to find out more about her motives and 'excuse me' was all I could come up with? What was with me? Why did this girl have me so flustered and self-conscious? Was I blushing right now? I wanted to reach up and touch my face to make sure I wasn't, but with how I was feeling I wouldn't know if I was blushing or just suffering from heat stroke. That's probably what it is: heat stroke! That's why I feel all weird.

She started laughing and braced herself on my leg because she was laughing so hard - she _was _joking. She must have thought that she had griped her arm on the seat, because as soon as she looked down and saw that she was gripping my upper thigh she quickly removed her hand. She looked away for a quick second.

She composed herself and looked back. "I was just thinking that Mikey is going to have a field day with you shopping," Bella explained.

"Shopping?!" Alice exclaimed, snapping out of her Jasper trance.

I only then realized what was going on: a covert mission into getting us to go shopping.

"Oh no. No shopping for me. At least not with _her,_" I said and directed my gaze towards Alice. "She's too intense for me. You guys go and have fun."

Bella flashed Alice an all-knowing look - like she had the clincher of all arguments. "Alright, but my brother isn't going to be happy about this. He's the one who will probably make you go shopping, _we're_ just trying to help you out here," Bella said all angelically as she shrugged her shoulders and tilted her head to the side. "He _is_ going to make you shop....OR he'll dress you in stuff from his closet. It's really your choice."

Crap. I was stuck. I tried to think of something quick that would get me out of this.

"Well, I could always borrow something from Em," I state and paused.

"Ha!" he snorted before he immersed himself back into his conversation with Rose. Stupid fucker and his "selective hearing" - seriously, sometimes it seemed that he listened only when it suited him.

"Or," I began, dismissing his retort, "I could borrow some of Jazz's stuff."

Jasper stiffened with the mention of this and had a shifty look about him.

"I can, can't I?" I asked getting a little more anxious that I was going to actually have to go on this shopping spree because there was no way I would be able to survive in the clothes that I brought.

"You could... but I kinda packed light. Like another shirt and the jersey and the I kinda figured I would just borrow your stuff. I mean you always over pack, you're kinda a woman in that way," he answered. Emmett looked over at him and held up his hand for a high five, which Jasper willingly obliged.

I looked over at both of them and shot them a dirty look.

"It's true man. Don't get your panties in a bunch," Emmett replied. He and Jasper erupted into laughter - I didn't think it was _that_ funny.

Alice's eyes brightened. "So that solidifies it! Shopping trip!!" she exclaimed.

At this announcement the girls, Rosalie included, dove into a discussion on where they should go. Apparently, shopping had been the key phrase which pulled Rosalie away from Emmett - good thing to know for future reference. There was an inaudible discussion, where I had been able to catch certain words like Melrose, Rodeo, and Robertson. They finally settled on Rodeo, but Bella had got on the phone immediately after to confer.

By the time everything was agreed upon we had pulled into the W hotel. It was my first time there; the hotel was taller than I expected and covered in ivy - the outside blended in very well with its surroundings. The chauffer opened the door. Bella was the first person out and was immediately attacked by some guy waiting outside. I had to assume that it was her brother, because no one else, aside from myself looked shocked by this interaction.

"Bells!" he yelled as he hugged and picked her up, spinning her around. He put her down and then directed her to spin. "That's fantastic, if I do say so myself. Now, which genius picked that out for you - they're got incredible taste," he prompted her.

"I did," the other unidentified male said.

Bella smiled and hugged him as well. The rest of us got out of the car and began to file out. The two unidentified males looked at each of us, stopped at me and whispered something to each other, and then proceeded to scan the group.

"Em! Alice! I haven't seen you two in so long. Why haven't you guys visited more?" unidentified male number one inquired.

Emmett walked over and gave him a hug, accompanied with some sort of secret handshake I had never seen him do before. "It's all your sister's fault man," he explained.

So I was right; unidentified male number one _was_ Bella's brother, Mike. He put his arm around Bella's shoulder, which looked slightly humorous because he was a fairy tall guy and a good deal taller than Bella. "So? She doesn't fucking own you - even though she thinks she does," Mike teased her.

Bella rolled her eyes, pretending to be annoyed, but then cracking a smile afterwards. This had been one of the happiest times I'd seen her. She looked like she really enjoyed being around her brother and probably missed him while he was away at school.

Alice let out a loud cough; trying to divert Mike's attention to her.

"Alice..." he reached over and grabbed her hand pulling her to his other side, "you know I could never forget you," and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You look as fabulous as ever," he told her and Alice beamed.

Mike glanced at the rest of us and then back to Bella, "So who are the new editions," he tried to ask quietly.

"Well, you already know Jasper and Rosalie...," Bella told him and waited to see if he understood - which he didn't. "Hale," she finished.

Mike's eyes widened a little to this, "I can't fucking believe this! Rosie and Jasper? It's been a while."

He looked Rose over, as if he were inspecting her - which he probably was; and then looked over to Jazz, where he did the same thing. He finally let out a satisfied sigh, "Both of you must be in high demand," Mike said with a knowing smile.

Jasper and Rose looked at each other and nodded in agreement - or arrogance; really, it could be either. Rosalie usually was the one who was known for being the center of attention and thrived in it, but Jasper enjoyed it just as much; he just tried not to be so fucking obvious about it.

"And who might this scrumptious piece of hotness be, Bella?" unidentified male number two asked, directing his attention to me.

I looked down a little and ran my hand through my hair - that was flattering, yet embarrassing all at the same time.

"Oh. This is Edward Cullen: Jasper and Rose's step brother. His dad and Esme got married a while back," she explained.

"Hi," I said and held up my hand to slightly wave.

Mike nodded and smiled at me, before he turned his attention to his little sister. "I know what step brother means Bells. I do go to college," Mike teased.

"Just because you go to college, doesn't mean you know anything," Bella quipped right back. "Anyway.... would you like to do your introduction, or should I. You know you're being quite rude," she told her brother and linked her arm through unidentified male number two's arm.

"Where are my manners," Mike said sarcastically. "This is my better half, James," he said pulling him away from Bella.

"Hi guys, I've heard a lot about you all... well most of you," he said enthusiastically and smiled.

A slew of "nice to meet yous", "heys", and some hugs followed after that, with everyone trying get on with the polite introductions. And now unidentified male number two was identified as well: James, Mike's boyfriend. They both seemed like chill guys and they looked like a couple - not that you could really tell what a couple looked like or who was in one. Both Mike and James were fairly tall, James taller than Mike, blonde, with medium builds, and tan - that was almost a pre-requisite living in LA. I looked between Mike and Bella, they really didn't look related. Bella had dark hair and eyes, while Mike was the complete opposite. He was tan, she was pale. He was tall, she was short - well I guess that's how it supposed to work, she shouldn't be taller than her brother.

Bella noticed that I was looking between the two of them. "What?" she asked.

"I was just looking at you and your brother. You guys don't really look alike," I explained.

"Yea, we get that a lot," Mike explained. "See Bells here, she takes more after dad - which is probably why she's the golden child with him, daddy's little girl - and I take after mom; I tend to be her favorite."

"Oh," I said as I pushed up my sleeves for the 100th time in the last 20 minutes.

"Aren't you dying?" James asked me.

Yes, I'm fucking dying, I wanted to scream, but I really didn't want to go shopping. It seemed like it would be a lot of stress and I really didn't want to deal with stress right now.

"I'm ok," I lied, "just a little warm."

Jazz and Em let out a loud grunt/laugh in sync. I wanted to punch both of them for that - and the fact they were both wearing short sleeves.

"Well, that's what we were going to suggest doing for the afternoon," Alice said and shifted her eyes towards me. "_Some_ people," she shifted her eyes a little more forcefully this time, " didn't bring the right type of clothes - apparently they don't know how to check the weather or use a computer. So, we thought it'd be fun to do some shopping," she stated.

"Shopping? Well, when have we ever turned down a shopping request?" James said.

I could see the girls' eyes light up with excitement, but I noticed a little something more with Bella's. It wasn't just excitement with her, it was mischief and satisfaction that she was probably about to put me through torture. I narrowed my eyes at her, silently telling her that I had figured out her little plan. She arched her eyebrows and let a devilish grin spread across her perfectly lipglossed lips. Game on.

"We're gonna have to take two cars, because one's not gonna be able to hold everyone," Mike explained. "My car's right over there," he said pointing to the metallic red Jaguar XK convertible, "but I can only take two more."

Rosalie's eyes lit up as soon as she saw it - she was always drawn to flashy, expensive, things, which could possibly explain her attraction to Emmett. I chuckled to myself, because it was probably a little true. She grabbed Emmett's hand and began dragging him to the other side of the street.

"I guess we're going with you guys," Emmett yelled back at us.

"You're car will be here in a sec Bella; the valet is just bringing it around," James told her.

"So which car is it?" Alice asked.

No answer was necessary as a metallic black Maserati Gran Turismo S Convertible pulled up in front of us. _Nice_. I could see Rosalie's face drop a little, like she had made the wrong choice - sucks for her.

Mike came closer to Jasper and I. "I told you she was his favorite," he told us.

"Whatever," Bella sighed and pushed her way through us to get the keys from the valet.

"Just admit it. I'm just saying, when it comes to dad you usually get whatever you want. That's why you're driving his baby and you got a brand new, not-even-on-the-market, car at home... and I'm driving mom's hand me down," he joked, but with some truth behind his words.

Bella just stood there, unable to make any sort of rebuttal. "Let's just go. Alice, J, and Edward; you're with me," she directed.

Again, anyone listening to this conversation must think that we are the biggest bunch of spoiled, rich kids complaining about which ridiculously lavish car hey get to drive, but it was more than that. I don't think Bella wanted to hear that she's her dad's favorite. Was there something behind that?

We hopped in the car and took off: Bella driving, me in the passenger, and Alice and Jasper in the back - Alice sure was committing.

"Race you there!" Bella yelled, laughing, to the other car and took off.

I'd never seen her drive this fast - usually she was the one that was slow and steady, but right now she took off. I was lucky to get on my seat belt. She was driving the back roads where there were less stoplights, and she just breezed through the stop signs; not really stopping, more like pausing. The other car was out of sight by now...we had to be winning this race.

"Since when do you drive fast?" Jasper yelled.

Bella glanced back at him. "Since now. This is how you drive down here...its kill or be killed," she explained.

"And, she wants to beat her brother," Alice interjected. "By the way, love James! They are perfect for each other - totally hot!"

"I know, right!" she replied, "he's gorgeous! But what else would you expect from Mike. And this time he's actually intelligent - a step in the right direction for Mikey." She pulled up to the curb and stopped the car. "He better not fuck it up this time," she stated.

Alice nodded her head in agreement. Jasper and I looked at each other a little confused - I had a feeling that would happen a lot this weekend. At least Jasper would get some of it since he knew Mike before, I was completely in the dark.

"I thought we were going to Rodeo?" I asked Bella as we got out of the car. Seriously, I was overheating. At least in the convertible it was cool, due to all the moving air, but now I needed to change. Stat.

"Nope. Roberston. It's great for casual wear - and there are a bunch of restaurants around here," Bella explained.

"Oh! Can we go to the Ivy? I _know_ the food isn't that great but I just love it. It's the exhibitionist in me. Everyone watching...watching me...the paparazzi..." Alice said engrossed in her own thoughts, unaware of how she sounded right now.

We all stopped and turned to look at her.

She snapped out of it and realized how she sounded. "That didn't come out right," Alice tried to explain.

"Come on my little exhibitionist, let's get some clothes for these boys," Bella said signing and holding Alice by the waist, beginning to cross the street.

I looked to where the girls were walking. It looked like we were going to Kitson first. Jasper looked over at me and shrugged; who knew what we were getting ourselves in for. We crossed the street as well and proceeded into the store. The sales associate greeted us casually, but then did a double take at what we were wearing.

"Did you just get in from the Himalayas?" she asked as she looked at me confused.

I could hear the girls laughing from across the store.

"Something like that," I told her and made my way to where Alice and Bella were.

Alice was already zipping around the store picking things up for me and Jasper. She had two large piles already accumulated and we had just been there for two minutes. I heard more voices from the front of the store; the rest of our group must have gotten here.

Bella must have heard them too, because she yelled, "I win" loudly and triumphantly.

"Alright girls, time to go. You guys go do your thing and we'll meet you in a couple hours," Mike ordered.

"Aren't you gonna come with us?" Rosalie asked, pouting a little.

Apparently they had bonded in the car. Joy.

"I think I better stay and help the fashionably challenged," he stated and then looked at Jasper, Emmett, and I who appeared completely lost. "No offense," he said gently.

"I'm going with you ladies," James stated with a smile and headed out the door.

Alice and Rosalie quickly followed; they waved quickly before they were out the door too.

I looked at my growing pile of clothing. Alice had put shirts there that said things like 'Alpha Male' and 'LA heart's ME'. Shit that I would never, _ever_, wear - yet somehow I was certain that I was going to have to try them on. Mike was busy picking things out with Jasper and Emmett, so I attempted to sneak back some of the outrageous articles of clothing too ridiculous for me to try on.

"Tsk, Tsk," Bella whispered in my ear, "I take offense to that."

I looked up at her; she had a disapproving look on her face that was comical yet endearing all at the same time. She was the one who had chosen all of these ridiculous outfits for me - in some ways she was an evil genius.

I held up a shirt at her that said 'Believe the Hype'. "You picked this out?" I said with a slight inflection in my voice.

She nodded, her eyes sparkling a little bit. This was definitely a Bella I was not used to - she drove fast, she teased me, she was picking out _clothes_ for me...this was like an alternate universe.

I looked to my left and saw a shirt that I did like. "I think this is much better suited for me," I told her.

She looked at it with a questioning eye. " 'Met Your Match?' " she asked with a smirk, "I dunno about that Edward."

I lowered my head closer to hers. "Well I do," I said and threw it onto the behemoth pile of clothes without looking away from her.

Neither of us flinched; we just stood there staring at each other, which turned into the two of us trying not to break into laughter. Unfortunately, I cracked before she did. She let out a exultant laugh.

"Come on Bella! We've got shopping to do!" Alice yelled from the doorway.

She looked back at her and held up one finger, and signaled she'd be there in a minute. She turned back to me and reached for the sunglasses on top of her head.

"Well, have fun with all of this," she said as she nodded to the pile of clothes and then to her brother, "and don't worry, I put some good stuff in there that will actually work for you - just not without having some fun," she winked at me and turned to leave for the door. "Mikey, take pictures for me!" she exclaimed.

****************************************************************

Five hours, lunch at the Ivy, too many outfit changes to count, and about 20 bags later we were finally done and back at the hotel. I finally felt better, no longer dying of heat, and more relaxed; of course that may also be due to all the drinking that I've done. Everyone was getting ready for the night. Mike and James had stayed with us - getting ready at the hotel instead of going back to their dorm rooms. Mike and I were the only two who were ready to go, but he kept popping in and out of the girls' room, checking if they, or James, needed anything since he was helping to "style" them - his word, not mine.

Mike gave me a once over, inspecting my outfit, before he nodded his head. I was dressed in everything that Bella had picked out: a collared, three-quarter length, blue and ecru thin pinstripe, button down shirt, dark grey undershirt underneath, and dark blue, almost black denim. I smiled to myself knowing that she knew exactly what to pick out - what would look good and what I would like. Of course I took credit for all the good clothing choices when Mike asked me if I picked out my own clothes. I had a feeling he knew that Bella chose them though, because he just nodded his head, as if he was playing along, and whenever he looked at me he had a smug all-knowing grin plastered across his face.

"Here," Mike said thrusting a shot glass at me, "we might as well get this party started since we are waiting."

I took the shot glass from him and clinked the top of our glasses. Then threw back the shots.

"So," Mike asked, "any girlfriend back home?" he said nonchalantly.

I arched an eyebrow at him. "Nooo," I stated slowly, dragging out my answer. "Why?"

"Just wondering," he said but as if he were not surprised. "Bella's not with that jackoff right? I mean last time she didn't tell me because she knows I despise that fucker," he said pouring both of us another shot.

I half snorted a laugh - apparently no one liked Jake, which was kind of a relief. Wait, why should it be a relief, nothing is happening between me and Bella - I shouldn't care if they like Jake or not. And, technically, Jake is a friend of mine...

"I don't think so," I told him and threw back the shot he had just finished pouring.

"Uh huh... interesting," he said quietly and more like it was to himself. "Well, so what about the two of you?" he asked.

He was a little nosey, but hell, he is her older brother. But what is there to be nosey about, there was nothing going on with the two of us. We kissed once...okay, I kissed her once, but it was like how I would kiss Alice - it meant nothing. Well, maybe it wasn't how I would kiss Alive, but that was besides the point. AND, she didn't even remember the kiss; so technically, it doesn't count. Yea, keep telling yourself that, Edward.

I shot Mike a look as if he were crazy in an attempt to throw him off and not let him know that I was over thinking his comment. "What? No. There is most definitely nothing going on between the two of us. In fact, we really only just started speaking to each other a week ago," I explained to him.

"Alright..." he answered back as if he distrusted what I just said.

Jazz and Emmett finally came out of our room, both clearly a little high - must have done a line or two in the room. Emmett spun around for Mike to inspect. He was wearing a tight, a little too tight in my opinion, v-neck, black t-shirt with medium was jeans. Mike gave him the nod of approval. The focus then shifted to Jasper. He just stood there looking at all of us. Emmett elbowed him in the side.

"I'm not fucking spinning, like a god damn ballerina," Jasper stated and moved toward the tequila bottle; in which Mike pulled it away.

All three of us kept looking at him; there was no way Jazz was going to get out of this. He waited and reached for the bottle again, so Mike pulled it further away. Mike was enjoying this - taunting Jasper this way.

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said and then did a quick spin, "happy now?"

"Ecstatic," Mike said flatly and handed him the bottle as a reward, "but take that crazy ass hat off, you look fucking retarded."

Jasper kept the hat on. "Screw you, I like it," he said.

"Where are the girls? Aren't they ready yet?" Emmett inquired.

"Almost!" James yelled from behind the closed door, "Are you guys ready?"

He pushed open their door and made his way to the main hotel door which led to the hallway. Alice came out first and was dressed in a flowey, but short floral and multi-colored wrap dress. She gave a little spin as she came out, so the dress twilled out, and headed for the door. Rosalie was next. She was in a ridiculously short, and ridiculously low, sparkly grey halter dress - Emmett had to have been in heaven over this. She walked straight over to him, grabbed his arm and pulled him to the door - but not before grabbing the tequila bottle on the table. Em reached in to give her a kiss, but she pulled away.

"Lip-gloss babe. Not right now," she told him and thrust the bottle at him, as if this were a runner-up prize, appeasing him.

Bella was after her. I saw Mike and James exchange a knowing glance at each other. She looked over to me and smiled quickly, before she turned to face her brother - in which she did a slow turn as well. She was wearing a very tight, very form fitting, very _sexy,_ one shoulder, short, black cocktail dress with her hair cascading down her back. I think I was holding my breath when I saw her because I had to tell myself to take a quick breath - I hoped nobody else saw that.

"Damn B. LA agrees with you. You look phenomenal," Jasper told her.

"Why thank you," James told him, taking credit for how amazing Bella looked.

She smiled and walked over to him. He held out his arm, which she grabbed, and headed for the door. But before they were out James grabbed his hat and threw it into the trash.

"Ready lovass?" James asked us as he held the door open for us.

Both Mike and I nodded as we got off the couch and made our way to the door.

Mike turned to me before we exited the room, making sure we were out of earshot of the others. "Yea, there's totally nothing going on between the two of you," he told me sarcastically before reaching out for James' hand and proceeding down the hallway.

***************************************************

The more I saw Bella in LA, the more she just seemed like a different person. When we arrived at dinner at the Chateau Marmont, the bouncers, the maitre d's, the bartenders, and even some of the wait staff all knew Bella. This resulted in getting better tables and just better everything - she was like the prodigal son returning home, except she's a girl.

This continued when we went to Villa - the new "it" club. It hadn't been open for that long, but Bella still knew everyone - well, I believe she knew the owner. We didn't have to wait in line, in fact, we didn't have to wait for anything. We were in the club and at our table within minutes of arriving. I could see why she might prefer LA - the night life was incredible, there was always something going on and something to do. And on top of that everyone treated her, and Mike, like royalty.

"So? Do you approve of my outfit, Mr. Lagerfeld?" Bella asked and giggled.

I more than approved of her outfit, but wasn't about to tell her that. I gave her a once over and then nodded my head slowly, "I suppose it's alright," I said and pursed my lips.

"Why thank you," she said smiling, "I'll be right back, I saw some friends across the way."

She left our area and flitted across the floor, getting stopped every 10 steps or so by people she knew, I supposed. I looked over to Rose and Emmett who were both double fisting and dancing on floor. Alice was dancing on the couch and tried to get Jasper to join her. He looked like he didn't want to, but I knew he was probably enjoying all the attention from Alice and was definitely enjoying himself as James kept handing him drinks.

I sipped on my drink and casually observed my surroundings. Everything here was so flashy; it almost dripped with excitement. Every time I had been in LA before, I had really never experienced it like this, but then again I wasn't raised here. This had nothing on New York, in my opinion, but it was fun all the same. I noticed Bella trying to make her way back to where we were sitting, but she was being followed by this guy who looked like he was our dads' age. She finally made her way back and plopped down onto my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"So, you like my new boyfriend?" she joked and signaled to the guy who was following her around.

"Oh yea, he's such a hottie!" I teased.

I didn't know what was going on. This was new territory for us - she was being fairly bold.

"Yea, I know!" she joked again. "He started following me around when I was talking to Angie over there. He tried to buy me a drink. I told him I wasn't interested, but he kept following me around. I tried to get him kicked out but he's some bigwig movie exec. So I finally told him I have a boyfriend who will kick his ass..." she explained.

I finally got it....I was the hypothetical boyfriend. Hence, the sitting on my lap. "Let me guess who this boyfriend of yours is supposed to be," I said finishing off my drink.

"You got it," she winked and reached for a drink for the both of us - one drink and two straws.

I saw the rest of our little group look over at us to see what was going on, because this definitely wasn't the norm between the two of us. But really, who was I to throw a ridiculously hot girl off my lap - I would have to be fucking insane. James and Mike looked over at me for an explanation but I couldn't; I just shrugged. They must have thought this was some sort of signal because they pulled Jasper and Alice into the mass of dancing bodies and then they were gone.

"Well, alright, _girlfriend_," I said and tipped my head down for a sip.

The guy was fast approaching our table area - maybe he didn't believe her little lie.

"Ah crap," Bella exclaimed.

She looked over and saw that this guy wasn't pausing, he just kept walking closer and closer pushing people out of his way.

She looked at me for a second and paused. Then, all of a sudden, I felt her lips on mine. She was kissing me, and not the way I had kissed her on Halloween, but this was aggressive and intense. I didn't know what to do. I panicked for a moment and just stood there still, but then it hit me: Bella's kissing you, kiss her back you moron. And I did. I closed my eyes and returned her kiss, just as fiercely as she was giving it. But then all of a sudden it stopped.

I opened my eyes and looked at her. One of her eyes was looking into the distance, to see if her lover boy was there and one was looking at me. She sighed softly.

"Thanks for the help," she said as she reached for another drink and got up and walked to the dance floor.

**Sorry to cut it here, but it was waaaay to long to continue. Day two/ the game is the next chapter, it should be up hopefully by mid week**

**Reviews may speed up the process of getting the next chapter up ;)**


	16. I Love LA

**as promised, the new chapter is up by mid week. and its a long one.... longer than all the rest by a lot. **

**a big thanks to thecornergirl - my beta genius! she's a big reason the chapter came out so quickly. **

**a HUGE thank you to everyone who left me a review! it seriously made my day, and it helped me get this chapter out.**

**2 chapters in less than a week - that's a record for me.**

**so enjoy... i hope you guys do!**

BPOV

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Not yet. It couldn't be time to get up yet.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

I begrudgingly flipped over and attempted to hit the alarm clock while still trying to remain asleep. It kept going off, though, so I hit it again.

"Oww!" Rosalie growled, "stop fucking hitting me!"

I quickly removed my hand and reached to my other side to turn off the alarm.

"Sorry," I said groggily to Rose, half-asleep, and looked over to the alarm clock.

Six o'clock in the morning? Who the fuck switched it - _I_ set the alarm for eight. We got in around 3:30/4 and now we're getting up? I laid my head back down onto my pillow and rejoined Rose in the warmth and comfort of our gigantic, plush, California king bend. Back to Sleepy-town for me.

Rose and Emmett were supposed to stay in the guest bedroom, leaving me and Alice the bed to ourselves, but James and Mikey stayed over - so that meant a sleepover in both master rooms; not that there wasn't plenty of room. At least in our room, there was. All three of us fit, comfortably, on the bed with plenty of room to spare. I'm not sure that was the case in the boys room; someone probably slept on the floor or couch. And that someone was probably Emmett.

I snuggled closer to my pillow. I was so tired, I kinda wished the game wasn't today. Just half an hour more - that's all I needed.

A sudden burst of light filled the room - it was too bright. I squeezed my eyes tighter and pulled the pillow over my head trying to keep the light out and retain the darkness. I heard Rosalie grunt. My warmth was then stripped away - as well as our comforter. Now I grunted.

"Rise and shine!" Alice said brightly and with the slightest bit of evil in her voice. "Get up, you've got to shower and get ready."

"Rose, you can go first," I mumbled and blindly reached for the comforter, still keeping my eyes shut.

"No, you go right on ahead," Rosalie stated not even attempting to move.

"Both of you get up! Rose, you go into the guest bathroom and Bella, you use ours. Problem solved," Alice said satisfied with her problem solving solution.

I finally opened my eyes but then shut them quickly as I realized just how bright the room actually was. It was too bright. I tried reopening them, but squinted my eyes this time, which worked better. Through my squinted eyes, I saw Alice pulling at Rosalie's arm in attempt to get her out of bed.

"Stop yanking me!" Rosalie yelled at Alice through a snarl.

"I'll stop yanking when you start moving. You take fucking forever to get ready and we have to be on time," Alice huffed at her, still pulling.

Rosalie glared at her - it kinda looked like death rays were about to pop out of her eyes. But Alice held her gaze and gave one more pull, which finally yanked Rose out of bed and onto the floor. Alice was deceptively strong for her size.

Rose pushed herself up and started mumbling things under hear breath as she went to the bathroom to grab her toiletries. She walked towards the door, still mumbling. The only thing I could make out was a slightly louder "fucking twat", which was directed towards Alice, followed by a very loud slamming of the door.

Alice had a smile on her face; she loved messing with Rose, probably as much as I loved messing with Emmett.

"Well, someone's not a morning person," she joked.

"Hmm...I wonder why?" I asked through a squinted stare.

"Yea, I guess that was a little mean... I suppose," Alice said, indifferent.

"You could have at least let me sleep in a little after covering your ass last night. I spent half the night running interference for you and Jazz. Not to mention when the two of you were making out in the hallway. I had to literally pounce on Rose to keep her from seeing - for a moment there she probably thought I went all lesbian on her. That's the _least _you could do," I said, reaching for the covers which Alice countered, by stripping them completely from the bed.

I let out an annoyed groan and stumbled my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I wasn't hung over, just tired, and today was going to be a long day in the heat. With my parents; whom I love, but they can be a bit much.

"Well, I do appreciate you covering for us Bells," Alice stated appreciatively.

I nodded my head as I brushed signifying "no problem". Alice reached into the shower and turned the water on for me so that it could heat up.

"I'll be back. I better go see if Rose fell asleep in the shower again - last time that wasn't pretty and it was a pretty long hospital trip. And that's all we need today on top of everything else: a trip to the ER," she exclaimed.

I finished brushing and reached into the shower to see if the water was warm yet; which it was. The warm water felt good, like it was melting away all of my tiredness and stress. What I really needed was a massage - that would really help me relax, but I wasn't sure if I'd be able to fit a message into this trip. It wasn't so much that I was stressed, because I was having a great time being back in LA - I felt like myself again. But, it was just bringing up all this weird stuff Edward...and I really didn't want to start thinking about anything with him. In fact, I didn't want to even think about thinking about things between the two of us. I was supposed to be taking a break from all things male - which apparently wasn't going over so well. I mean, what happened last night probably won't even get brought up - it didn't last time, so why should it now? But if it does... well, I'd just have to cross that bridge when it comes.

I heard the door open. "Alice, don't worry, I'm still conscious - marginally though. Could you hand me towel please?" I asked as I turned off the water.

The door was opened ajar and a towel was squeezed through the slit. I wrapped myself up and walked out the shower, squeezing the water out of my hair.

"Thanks. So how's Rose....Oh!" I gasped, a little shocked that a half naked Edward was standing in my bathroom.

He looked a little red - was he embarrassed? I smiled a little at this and the fact that he looked awfully good right now - he definitely had a nice body, kinda like a swimmers, even though he doesn't swim much. I again smiled at this thinking about Halloween and our little pool adventure. This was a small victory for me, embarrassing him, but then I remembered that _I_ was the one who was sopping wet and in just a towel. I was now the one who turned a little pink.

"Sorry," he said, looking at me but not - trying to give me some privacy.

That was kinda cute. Fuck; shut up Bella - no it wasn't!

I composed myself. "It's alright. You can look; it's not like I'm naked," I told him playfully.

He ran his hand through his disheveled, bed head hair while a impish cooked smile spread across his lips. "No, you are not... you're just wearing a towel," he explained.

I rolled my eyes a little at this, but smiled nonetheless. "So what do I owe the pleasure?" I asked. "Or did you just want to see me in the shower?" I teased - I couldn't help myself.

He pursed his lips and furrowed his eyebrows like he was deeply thinking about his answer. "Well..." that mischievous grin returned to his face. "I came for some towels, but I'll take you in the shower, _plus_ the towels if that's an option," he answered back.

What was going on with us; this was just weird. I was slightly taken aback and didn't know how to react. it was too early in the morning for this - and _really_, how was I supposed to react to that? I needed to get him out of here before I said or did something that I didn't want to do. I turned to the towel rack and grabbed all the clean ones; I didn't know which one he wanted or needed so I grabbed them all. I just needed him out of here now. I had to compose myself. Seriously, what was getting into me?

"Here," I said flatly, basically throwing the towels at him.

He looked a little confused but didn't say anything more. He just nodded his head in gratitude and then made his way out of the bathroom. I was relieved, but slightly disappointed at the same time.

I needed to get ready for the day.

*****************************************************

I gave myself a final once over before I got into the limo that was taking us to the pre-game alumni BBQ festivities. I smoothed out my white True Religion shorts and adjusted my long, royal blue UCLA tank top - a deviation from my original outfit choice because it was just too hot for the jersey. I tightened my ponytail and gave myself a final spritz of my perfume, Burberry Brit Sheer. I was now ready to go. My sleepiness had basically worn off with help of the double shot Mike brought me from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, a huge coffee chain down here, similar to Starbucks - which I gulped down. I used to go to that place all the time and I was in serious Coffee Bean deprivation in Forks. Coffee Bean had the best coffee around and, unfortunately, there were none in Forks. Another point LA. I hopped into the limo and we took off.

Westwood was abuzz excited for the game. Everyone was decked out in UCLA gear, shouting "Go UCLA" and Eight Clap cheers, UCLA's clapping cheer that is done at every game to get them psyched, to the cars that passed by, as they made their way to their prospective parties for the game or made their way to the Rosebowl. I glanced over at everyone in the car. My parents were busy speaking with Mike and James, this was the first time that my mom had met James and she was focused on getting to know him. Alice and Rosalie were yelling back cheers to the people walking outside - their cheerleaderness rearing its ugly head, but in this instant I really didn't mind. LA just put me in an all-together better mood. Again, another point for LA. I should really just stop; Forks had no way of catching up at this point. Emmett was covertly telling Edward and Jasper about the cheerleaders and the dance team and just all the other college girls at the game, hoping Rose didn't hear him. his eyes kept darting towards her to make sure she wasn't listening in. It was amusing just listening and observing all the conversations that were going on.

I heard a pop go off. "You kids up for champagne? I have a good feeling about this game," dad asked as he began pouring.

Everyone nodded their heads, accepting the champagne invitation.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up too high dad," Mike replied and took the glass mom passed to him.

"it could happen," dad said optimistically and looked around the limo for support - in which everyone instinctively averted their eyes. "I have faith in my Bruins - there's always a chance," he insisted.

"Yup, there's a chance... unlikely as it may be," James supported his thought and gave dad a small smile of support.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you," dad said and tipped his glass to James.

The two clinked heir glasses in solidarity.

"Our father; the perpetual optimist," I leaned over and whispered to Mike.

"At least about football," he commented back.

We both laughed, clinking our glasses. To which dad gave the two of us a curious look.

"So are you guys excited for your first game?" mom asked Rosalie, Jasper, and Edward.

"It should be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it Mrs. Swan," Edward answered her

We all tried to hold back our laughter as my mom looked absolutely mortified by this epithet of "Mrs. Swan."

"Well, that made me feel old," mom laughed through a tight smile. "Mrs. Swan is my mother-in-law. Please, _please_, call me Renee'. I insist," she explained.

Dad put a cigar in his mouth and lit it. "She always gets a little bent out of shape when someone calls her that," he explained. "She's a little touchy on the age, but she doesn't look a day over 30 right?" he said, as he tapped mom's knee, which made her smile. "Don't worry about it, though, you didn't know... and she rebounds quickly," he whispered to Edward, further elaborating whlie putting the cigar back in his mouth.

"Shut up dear," mom retorted and flashed him a dirty look.

Their banter was fiercely comical - too bad this didn't happen often since they usually were not together the majority of the time.

I looked out the window; the traffic was starting to back up. We were only about a mile away from the Rosebowl now, we'd be there within a couple minutes, hopefully.

"Oh Bells, I forgot to tell you. The Webers are going to be there. Did you know? Did Angela tell you?" mom asked me.

Emmett flashed me a look. He had always had a thing for Angie - he liked the bad girl in her. Angela had been my best friend in LA, we hung out all the time - she was kinda like my Alice, back in the day except wilder. She was sorta like Lindsay Lohan, pre-rehab and pre-lesbian, or Paris Hilton - just without the notoriety. We were a good balance; she used to get me to do things that I never thought I would do and I used to calm her down a little and made her think about her actions. I was like her own personal sedative. Unfortunately, since I left there's been no one here to balance her out and calm her down... and let's just say that she had gotten a little out of hand and had a couple stints in rehab.

I had briefly ran into her at Villa last night, but she didn't mention anything about going to the game. "Ang is going to be there? I said a little nervous and flashed Alice a look.

The two of them got along, but only in small doses. They both thought the other was a bad influence. But I always suspected they didn't like being around each other for long because they were a little jealous of each other: like sibling rivalry, vying for my attention. Angie _was_ fun to be around - I could totally let loose around her. She didn't judge; mostly cause she'd already done it.

"Yup, the whole family," dad responded and took another puff.

Well, that should help things. She was always more restrained around the fam. Its not like I wasn't excited to see her, but she also said things the way it was; she had a knack for seeing things that were bubbling under the surface. So, hopefully, she wouldn't say anything about the whole Edward situation - cause things were definitely bubbling. HA! Fat-fucking-chance.

"I think I see them," Em said and slightly kicked me.

Alice and I kicked him back, motioning to Rose next to him. "I see them," I said, getting a little more excited to be able to hang out with my old BFF.

Edward saw this interaction and eyed us suspiciously - nothing seemed to get past him; something he and Ang had in common. Fuck.

The car stopped and my parents were the first out. Followed by Mike and James, me, and then everyone else. We were all huddled outside the limo.

I felt someone behind me. "This should be interesting. What are you hiding Bella Swan?" Edward teased behind me softly.

Yes, he definitely didn't miss anything. He picked up that I had tensed a little bit when Ang's name was mentioned - but why was he paying so much attention to what I was doing? Under normal circumstances I would be fine with introducing the two of them, but now I didn't want her to say anything about Edward's and my strange relationship to him. Especially since I didn't know what was actually going on between the two of us... if anything actually was. But I also knew how she worked. When she saw something she liked, and she would like Edward, she went after it, and I didn't want _her_ to hook up with him either.

Before I could react to his comment I heard her coming. "La!" she exclaimed as she rushed across the grass.

She looked the exact same since the last time I'd seen her...err, the last time I had actually seen her was last night, but that didn't count. Her dark, almost black, hair was in her usual wavy, layered length, but now with a slight bang across the forehead. She was slightly tanner than usual, but she had a bronze complexion already, so the slight tan wasn't that noticeable. The only thing that was noticeable was that her naturally thin frame was more toned; she no longer looked waifish and frail, but instead looked a little more filled out - like she had been doing a lot of Pilates.

"La!" I exclaimed back at her, embracing her in a hug.

"La?" Jasper asked from behind me.

"You know La, like Bell- LA or Ange - LA? It's our nickname for each other. We were known as La La when we were together," Ang explained, "and for those of you who don't know me, I'm Angela Weber."

She smiled and hugged Alice, but it was a forced and awkward hug. Then she winked, flirtatiously, and hugged Emmett. He turned a little pink at this but I knew he was loving every second. Rosalie, on the other hand, was not and she didn't miss a beat; automatically understanding what was going on. She moved in to claim her territory.

She yanked him away and grasped his hand in hers. "I'm Rosalie Hale. I think we've met before a while back. Didn't you, like, _just_ get out of rehab?" Rose asked condescendingly.

I was kinda surprised she didn't just pee on him to solidify ownership. I flashed her a look; down girl. i tried to get this across to her, but she completely dismissed me.

"Yea, my second stint. This time for sex addiction - I think it finally stuck this time, but who knows?" Ang said, giving me a wink.

I knew she was kidding but this just further pissed off Rose. She latched on harder to Emmett, if that was even possible, and took off to go find anyone else to talk to - probably Mike and James.

"That was brilliant," Jasper said slightly in awe. "I'm Jasper, Rose's brother. And this is Edward, our step-brother," he explained.

Edward flashed a quick look at me and then looked down. Seriously? We didn't need to add fuel to the fire. Don't look at me right now. Before Jasper said anything, she probably already knew something was going on with me and Edward. Now, this just added to it.

Ang glanced at me, giving me a look. Fuck, she already picked up on it. I knew it! I just looked down.

"So, you guys are the new additions to their little posse?" Angela asked.

Edward nodded. He hadn't said anything yet, he must have felt the tension in the air as well.

"Well, nice to meet you guys... including Rosalie," Ang said politely.

We began walking towards the rest of my parents' friends in the tailgate.

"So, how are things going with you, Alice?" Ang asked her.

Alice flashed me a confused look. "Things are good... how's everything with you?" Alice responded politely.

"They are fantastic! I'm glad to hear everything is good with you," Angela responded and linked arms with Alice, walking with her.

Alice looked back at me with a pleading/perplexed look. I just smiled and waved back at her.

Jazz had an amused look on his face. "Should I go save her?" he whispered to me.

"Probably," I laughed quietly. "Awww, such a good boyfriend," I whispered back to him.

He smiled. "Thanks for that B," he said and kissed me on the cheek, then jogged to catch up with them.

It was just me and Edward now - fantastic.

"So you took my advice?" he stated.

I was confused. "Pardon?" I asked him, turning my head to look at him.

He chuckled softly and flicked the end of my ponytail. "Your hair. You took my advice," he said smugly.

"My hair?" I said slowly, eyeing him suspiciously and reaching towards the end of my hair that he flicked.

He took my hand and moved it away from my hair. I felt a slight giddiness when he did this. Maybe a little spark? No, no I _absolutely_ did not.

"Yea, I told you that your hair looked good up in a ponytail and you listened to what I said," he explained, still smug.

What a bastard.

"No, I didn't. I don't even remember you saying that," I told him; even though I did remember and that _was_ the reason I wore my hair that way today. I wasn't about to tell him that, though. "It's just hot and I wanted my hair out of my face," I tried to explain, covering up my actual motives.

"Right..." Edward said, not very convincingly.

"Sure. Like you actually believe what I just said," I told him.

"I didn't say I did," he said playfully, as his crooked smile spread across his lips.

I rolled my eyes and pushed him gently on his arm - which he didn't move, but slightly moved to the side.

"La, hurry up. I want you to meet someone," Ang called out to me.

I hurried over to where they were all standing, leaving Edward behind. "Alrighty, who do you want me to meet?" I asked her.

Angela pulled a guy who was standing outside our circle into our little pow-wow as Edward made his way over to us.

"You guys, Bella, this is Ben: my boyfriend," she explained.

Boyfriend? _Boyfriend_? I was literally shocked. In fact, I believe my mouth gaped because Jasper had to elbow me in the side to get me to stop. I wasn't opposed to the notion of boyfriend, but boyfriend and Angela didn't mix - just like you weren't supposed to mix pop rocks and soda. This was the girl who never wanted to be tied down to anyone. The girl who enjoyed hooking up with randos in the club and just "having fun" for the night with no strings attached. In the entire 18 years that I'd known Angela Weber, she had never dated anyone more than once - and now she had a boyfriend she was serious enough about to introduce to her family and friends? Was I in some alternate universe? What the fuck?

Now I felt totally isolated; _everyone_ was coupled up except for me. Well, almost everyone... Edward and I were the odd men out. But of course everyone was coupled up except for the two of us - it was like the universe was trying to force us together. At least now I didn't have to worry about her trying to hook up with Edward... well hopefully.

This time Edward elbowed me in the side. Everyone had been waiting for me to respond to Ang's announcement.

"That's great La!" I attempted to feign enthusiasm - what else was I supposed to do? "How long have you guys been together?'

Ang and Ben looked at each other and almost cooed in sync, "A year."

I almost threw up a little in my mouth with that display. I stayed silent, but everyone else did the obligatory "aww cute" reaction. I plastered a tight smile on my face and kept silent.

"Um, Bella," Edward stated, "I think your parents want you. I think your mom's calling you over."

He took a step away from the group and waited for me to join him.

"Be back in a second," I told the rest of them, taking a step to join him. "So where are my parents?"

He looked at me a little sheepishly. "I have no idea. It just looked like you wanted to get out of there and needed a drink after Angela's announcement," he explained.

This was true, I did need a drink. I could kiss him right now for that! But that would _probably_ be a bad idea. No, that would _definitely_ be a bad idea. Instead I just grabbed his arm, linking it slightly with mine, in an attempt to show my appreciation without getting overly touchy. As I got closer, I could smell his cologne or him; I wasn't sure if he was wearing anything or not. Either way, he sure did smell good.

"Thanks," I told him, "you have no idea. I was a little.."

"Shocked?" he interjected, finishing my sentence for me and grabbed a hold of my arm a little more.

I smiled to myself; this was nice.

"Shocked's one way of putting it. Completely and utterly flabbergasted is another one," I joked. "I haven't seen her in five months, but we've talked and she's never mentioned this guy. I even saw her last night and she said nothing. I mean she used to be the type of girl who would rather die than have a boyfriend. Its like she's a completely different person. You would think she would have at least text or sent an email, or a relationship update on Facebook. Something, anything saying 'hey, by the way, I have a super-serious boyfriend' - I really don't think that's unreasonable," I rambled.

I knew I was ramblng but I was totally thrown for a loop. We had reached the food and liquor tent and Edward handed me a glass of champagne; which I downed in two gulps. I needed something stronger to take the edge off this shocker; which he seemed to instinctively know and handed me a margarita on the rocks, which was primarily Patron.

"Well, people change. Maybe she was scarred that you were going to freak out - obviously she had _nothing_ to worry about there," he teased.

I looked up at him and sighed, taking a large gulp from my drink, "Obviously."

We heard someone approach from behind and immediately unlinked our arms and put some space between us.

"Hey Bells? Can I talk to you for a second? Sorry to steal her away," Angela told Edward.

He nodded and made his way over to Rose and Emmett who were still with Mike and James. I saw Rose still staring down Ang and clutching Emmett.

"What's up?" I asked her a little nervous.

She looked nervous too. "Nothing, I just wanted to check in on you. You seemed a little surprised by my announcement," she said.

I nodded my head slowly. "Well, I was surprised, but I'm really happy for you too," I told her, "but why didn't you say anything to me in the first place?"

"I wanted to, but I didn't know how to tell you and I also didn't know how serious this was. I didn't want to have to worry you for nothing, because you know me having a boyfriend is one of the seven signs of the apocalypse," she joked. "Also, I was always the wild one and after Ben and I met, I just kind of calmed down - like I did with you. And I thought you might think that I replaced you, or changed or whatever," she elaborated.

I frowned at this; I always wanted the best for her. "Ang, you know I always support whatever makes you happy. If that means dancing on top of tables till 4 in the morning in Ibiza, fantastic," I paused and put my hand on top of hers, "but if that means studying in the library until the wee hours of morning; I support that too," I told her.

"Well, I don't see that happening in the near future, or ever - but that's good to know," she joked, smiling at me. "There seems to be something more to it than just my little announcement, though," she eyed me suspiciously.

I took a sip from my glass and fidgeted. I shouldn't have been surprised with this quick deduction - she did pick up on everything.

"You're right. When the parentals told me you were going to be here today - and thanks for telling me about this _last night -_ I got excited, not only so that we could hang out and catch up, but also because I wouldn't feel like the only odd man out anymore," I explained.

"You mean, you weren't thrilled with being around nothing but happy couples when your single? How utterly surprising!" she said, feigning shock.

"Exactly. Really, it's great that everyone is so happy, but in a way I feel like the seventh wheel. Especially when I have to cover for Alice and Jasper. Oh, p.s., don't tell anyone or let on that you know they are together; no one else knows except me," I explained. "I was just looking forward to it being like it used to be," I said directing the conversation back to the topic at hand.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you about Ben beforehand. I really have no legitimate excuse, but I promise it will be like before - except, maybe, a little less coke for me. I am _supposed_ to be clean now," she joked.

I wasn't a huge fan of the powdery white substance, but Angie loved it - which is precisely the reason why she had a couple stints in rehab.

"Buutt, I have a feeling you're not going to feel like the seventh wheel for much longer," she said and glanced over to Edward.

"What? Nooooo. There is nothing going on between the two of us. In fact, up until a couple weeks ago, we hated each other; we never even talked," I declared.

She pursed her lips and studied my facial expression - which I tried to keep blank, attempting to be indifferent over the whole thing.

"Sure... Well, you know what they say about that thin line - and you two seem to be straddling it if that's the case. You two looked awfully chummy since you stepped out of the limo..." she stated.

"Really. We're just friends," I told her, attempting to convince her.

And maybe myself as well.

She shrugged. "Well, maybe you think you guys are just friends and that you aren't into him - although I don't know why, he's fucking gorgeous! And maybe he even thinks that he's not into you, but as far as I can tell, that boy is definitely into you," she told me.

We both now looked over in Edward's general direction. Edward was looking back in ours. Well...mostly at me. I looked away immediately.

"Definitely," Ang said again with a wink.

***********************************************************

"Another great trip! Rosie, Jazz, Edward and James; thanks for joining us this year. Next year should be even better. And don't give me that _bull shit_ that you guys are going to be too busy away at college to come back for the weekend. I expect to see you all here again; you all are family now," dad drunkenly rambled on.

Now I knew where I got my rambling from - it was a genetic deformity. He had been throwing back scotches all day and had yet to stop. We were done with dinner Me'lisse, one of my mom's favorite places, and were now just sitting around drinking. We were all ready to leave - there was just no polite escape in sight at the moment. Mom kept glancing at me; she must have been able to sense that we were all anxious to go.

"Dear, I think the kids are ready to go," she told him. "Why don't we stay here or go to Chateau with the Webers," mom suggested.

I sighed with relief - she was giving us our escape route.

Dad looked a little deflated by her comment, beginning to sulk, but he agreed. "Alright kids - go have some fun. Mike, watch your sister!" he commented as we got up to leave.

"Will do," Mike said with a wink to me and then went over to say goodbye to our parents.

"Thanks for that daddy," I told my father as I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He livened up a little after that comment. Dad always liked it when I called him that, reminding him of when I was younger. But I didn't say it much because I thought it was just weird having your 18 year old daughter calling you daddy - it just brought up a whole other set of issues, and I, for one, did not want people thinking that I had a "daddy complex".

As soon as the formal goodbyes were over and done with, we were out of there.

"So, where to?" Alice inquired.

I looked to Mike for an answer - he knew where to go better than I did.

"Well, since the game was such a success," Mike said sarcastically.

It wasn't an awful game, not a blowout by any means; it was actually close. They still lost, though.

"We could go to the locals - Maloney's or Brew Co. A lot of people will probably be out tonight - you know, drinking away their sorrows about the game," James suggested.

"Or there's always Saddle Ranch," Ben commented, "it's usually fun and there's a bull."

"Or we could do both," Mike stated. "They're not that far away from each other and Sunset doesn't get good until late anyway.

I huffed to myself. I really wasn't a fan of Saddle Ranch; it was just too touristy for me. I mean it was made marginally cool by being on Sunset and in an episode of _Sex and the City_, but really it kind of sucked. There wasn't even VIP.

Em elbowed me. "So, all your favorites, huh?" he teased.

He knew how I felt about Saddle ranch, but Em was the complete opposite, he absolutely _loved_ that place. I think it was mostly because there were girls riding bulls there, but I wasn't positive it was for that reason. He always liked going there when he was in LA. I think he thought that going there made him more of a "normal person", due to not having a velvet rope, VIP, or bottle service.

I gave in. "Alright. Sounds good to me," I said begrudgingly.

If everyone wanted to go, which it looked like they did, I wasn't going to be a bitch and make them all go somewhere else.

The limo ride was short. We were at Maloney's, the local UCLA watering hole/typical college bar, relatively quickly. A line had already started forming at the back entrance by the time we arrived. Luckily, we didn't have to wait in this ridiculous line, though, Mike and James both knew the bouncer quite well.

It was crowded inside - people still all decked out from the game. Most of the people probably came straight from the game here - it was tradition for those 21 and up, or the ones who were allegedly "21".

"Alright, shot time!" Ang announced. "What should it be?"

"Surprise me," I yelled back at her.

She looked to the bartender and talked to him for a little while before she nodded her head in agreement. "Ok, 10 of those then," she sated.

Today had been a long day of drinking - basically since we got into the limo at 10 in the morning... and it didn't look as if it would be stopping anytime soon. I already had a fairly good buzz going on, but I really wasn't in the mood for an epic hangover tomorrow, especially since mom had booked all the girls a massage before our 11 o'clock flight.

I looked at the shot before me, unsure of what it was. It could have been anything really - it was a little too dark to tell.

"What is it?" I asked

"Does it matter?" Ang answered back.

"No... but..." I whined slightly.

"Well, you wanted the old Angela, here she is! Just take the shot you bug baby!" Ang teased.

I shrugged; I did say I wanted the old Angie back. " LaLa, together again!" I said, clinking our glasses. "Ready everyone?" I yelled to everyone else.

The rest of our group reached in and grabbed their shots. I saw a blur of nodding heads around me.

"Ok then," I announced as we threw back our shots.

Minderasers - fucking fantastic. There goes my idea of not being completely hammered by the end of the night.

**************************************************

The night had slowly progressed into an extended truth or dare game - with shots, and minus the truth part. We had moved the party from Maloney's to Saddle Ranch. We were on round four of this little game. It was now Alice's turn to pick something.

She sat there, contemplating her next move. "I've got it! Blow jobs. No one's done those yet, right? So, who up for it, besides me?" Alice asked, slurring her words slightly and looking around the group for willing participants.

Rosalie and Mike's hand instinctively shot up - mostly because they probably heard blow job and thought it was the actual thing.

"Alright, you two - big surprise there. Any other takers?" she asked.

"I'll do it," Ben announced.

"I'm in too," Edward stated.

My eyes widened a little with this. Luckily, no one saw because I already had my eyes glued to the floor. I wanted no part in these particular shots. I knew this was just some sort of Alice ploy to use sexual innuendo and alcohol to get me and Edward together - she'd been trying to do that all night. I was pleased with myself that I had figured this out so quickly; so far I had had a lot to drink and I was glad that my deductive and perceptive skills were still intact.

"Well, there's a little catch," Alice said mischievously and gave me a small, yet evil grin, "you have to take the shot off someone."

Rose and Mike high-fived - it was like they had horny telekinesis.

"So, girls," she said winking at Mike, "do it from the waistbands. How's that for you guys?" she told them; both Mike and Alice grinning ear to ear. "And for the boys - from the cleavage," Alice said, winking at me now.

Bitch! Such a bitch. But I wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Well, Alice, you can do it off me," I told her with a smirk.

She couldn't protest too much, or her little non-relationship ruse with Jazz would be revealed. I saw her smile drop with my revelation - she was looking forward to having an actual excuse to touch Jasper in public.

"I don't see a problem in that," Emmett said, grinning.

Rose slapped him in the back of the head.

Alice was thinking, trying to figure a way out of it - but Ang beat her to the punch.

"Wait, wouldn't that be weird for Edward to have to take a shot off his step-brother's waistband or cleavage?," she said raising her voice slightly, "that's a little incestual," Ang stated.

Alice's smile returned to her lips - she had won and she knew it. It would have been very weird to have made Edward and Jasper partner up that way; although the look on their faces during the whole ordeal would probably have been priceless.

"Alright, so I'm with Jasper then," she said giving him a quick smile, " and Edward's with Bella."

"Thanks for taking one for the team B," Jasper whispered to me; he must not know about Alice's little plan.

Alice ordered the shots and placed them in the correct positions for everyone, except for Jasper - keeping up with the facade that she wasn't actually interested in him. I was last and she jammed the shot glass down my shirt.

"Think it's in far enough?" I asked sarcastically.

"I just want to make sure that its secure," she stated innocently. "I wouldn't want it to spill or anything," she said with a laugh.

"You owe me soo much," I told her.

"Uh huh," she said, dismissing my last comment and walking towards Jazz.

Edward walked over to me. "Are..." he began to say.

"Don't say anything," I warned him.

He stifled a laugh and then made a motion locking his mouth and throwing away the key.

"Alright, whenever you guys are ready," Alice announced.

I could feel the whipped cream against my skin - I hope I wouldn't be sticky afterward. That would just be fantastic.

Edward looked at me, seeing if I was ready yet. I just simply nodded and waited for the process to begin. Once he stepped forward it was like everything was happening in slow motion and my senses were heightened. I could hear everything: the noise in the bar, everyone else laughing, my heartbeat which had picked up and was now racing. My eyes were closed but I could feel every movement that Edward made, from coming closer to me to bending his head down. I could feel his breath on me, starting at my neck and then moving down. And I could smell him; he still smelled the same as he did earlier but now there was the distinct smell of alcohol mixed in. I wanted this to be over with, but at the same time I wanted this to go on and on. I was getting woozy, but that also could have been due to all the alcohol. I felt something wet on me. It had to be his mouth trying to get a grasp on the shot glass and around the whipped cream.

Then, all of a sudden his mouth and the glass were gone. I opened one eye to check. Edward was standing in front of me holding the shot glass and covered in whipped cream; they had put a lot on the top and it didn't surprise me that it was now covering his face.

I tried not to laugh. "You've got a little something here," I said motioning with my finger on my own face.

He laughed and ran a hand through his hair - he was nervous too. "Thanks," he said and then wiped the whipped cream into his mouth.

"So, who's turn is it next?" Alice asked

"I think it's Jasper's," Edward answered.

"Finally," Jazz stated. "So the shot's will be Nasty Bitches... and the dare will be, karaoke - Coyote Ugly style for the lovely ladies."

Now this was something I was alright with. Hell, I've done this before - sans dare.

"So what will it be Mr. Hale?" Ang asked.

He stood there and pretended like he was thinking, but I was pretty sure he knew from the get go what it was going to be. "I think it should be 'Pour Some Sugar on Me' by Def Leppard," he stated.

"That's fine with me," I said and hopped on top of the bar. "Excuse me. Excuse me. My friends and I are about to put on a little show for everyone - I hope you don't mind," I yelled at the crowded bar.

Ben went over to the DJ booth and requested the song, and I'm sure explained what was about to go down. He held up his hand and gave the ok to go. The song began and Alice, Angela and Rosalie got on top of the bar as well.

As the beginning beats to the song came on, the bartender had finished the shots and lined them up for us. We reached down and picked them up - I was unsure of how it was going to taste, it didn't look particularly appealing. I threw back the shot in time with the drum beat. It didn't taste as bad as I thought it would.

With the alcohol surging through my system I made my way down the bar singing along with the lyrics as best I could - I really only knew the lyrics of the chorus. I danced my way down the bar, stopping to flirt with the bartender or guys in the crowd along the way. I tried not to pay attention to Edward during all of this, but I couldn't help it - I kept getting drawn back to him. When I would catch myself, though, I would make an elaborate display and gesture to the guy in front of me, like a distraction mechanism.

The chorus finally came around and I noticed Rose next to me. We began singing and dancing together as the chorus progressed. As we danced the cheers from the crowd got even louder - which just egged us on more. After the chorus was over we parted ways and I headed over to the other side of the bar; the side where all the boys were.

"Come on B, I know you know the words!" Jasper yelled at me.

He knew I didn't. My knowledge of classic rock was fairly limited. I flipped him off, which for some reason made the crowd go wild again. Maybe they thought _I_ was the bad girl. Ha!

The ending chorus came on again and everyone in the bar started singing along this time. It was like we were rock stars. I looked over to Alice who was motioning the crowd to sing louder - she was loving this, all the attention. We never did anything like this back in Forks. I saw Ang dancing with some guy from the crowd and went over to join her; we danced on the bar top while he danced on the floor. This was how it used to be. Angie and I dancing together, usually without the karaoke part, and partying until the wee hour of the morning.

The music faded out slowly and I tried jumping down from the bar, but there were just no empty spaces. Ang had gotten down, somehow, but I was still standing on top. I saw Mike standing relatively close.

"Hop on," Mike told me.

"Aye, aye, big brother!" I told him and jumped on top of his back, wrapping my arms around him.

"So, how drunk are you on a scale of one to ten right now?" he asked me.

"Ummmmm...an eight?" I asked him, like he was supposed to know.

He let go of me and I slid down his back. "Alright, that is an acceptable number. You have done well grasshoppah," he teased.

"Why thank you," I said with a wide smile.

"It's my turn now," Emmett said. "And now, something that I have been trying to get her to do for the past four years."

Oh no. I shook my head because I knew what was coming. Emmett just nodded - he finally was going to get his wish.

"You know it Bells," he said smiling ear to ear.

"But there's a line," I tried to explain.

"Yea, we put your name down like an hour ago," Alice said.

So they were in on it together. Sneaky!

"Am I missing something?" James asked.

"Bella's dare is that she has to ride the bull," Mike explained.

"I've been trying....no _we've_ been trying, to get her to ride it for years, but she refuses to do it. Tonight is D-day. Tonight, Bella rides the bull. Oh, and your shot's Fire in the Hole," he announced.

The bartender stood in front of me and placed the shot glass down. I reached to pick it up and he shook his head, "Not yet," he explained. He took out a match and lit the shot on fire. "Be careful," the bartender warned.

Everyone was looking at the shot; I wasn't exactly sure how to drink it.

"Come on Bells. The alcohol is burnin' away," Em explained.

I picked up the glass and inspected it - seeing if maybe the fire was some sort of illusion. It wasn't. It was now or never because I heard my name being called from the guy running the bull. I held the shot to my mouth, quickly blew out the fire, and then threw back yet another other shot.

Two shots in the span of 10 minutes - I was definitely feeling good. As soon as I finished the shot Emmett began pulling me to the front of the bar and basically pushed me into the bull pen.

"What do I do?" I yelled at all my friends.

"Hold on!" Ang yelled back, instructing me.

I grabbed a hold of the fake bulls saddle; I held on tight, I didn't want to be one of those jackasses who fell off this thing in the first two seconds. The bull started moving slowly at first - this would be no problem. Then, it started to speed up and it got a little harder to hold on. But I got in the groove of it. I even released one hand in an attempt to show off - which actually worked. I thought I looked cool; like I knew what I was doing, but instead my other hand just gripped the saddle even more. I thought I might have broken my wrist, it was really starting to hurt.

Luckily, the bull stopped there and I hadn't fallen off. I had survived the dreaded mechanical bull. Everyone was whooping and cheering for me. I swung my feet over and tried to hop off. This was where I fell. I managed to stay on that fucking bull the whole time, but getting off of it I fall? That just doesn't seem fair.

I walked out of the pen and rejoined my friends, holding my wrist. It was really hurting.

"You ok?" Edward asked concerned.

"Yea, my wrist just hurts from that thing," I said, motioning to the bull with my head. "You have to hold on to it really tight so you can stay on and I think I was just holding too tight."

"Well, let's get you some ice then," he said.

I nodded my head in agreement. He started walking towards the bar but it was kinda hard to follow him - there were just too many people. Edward looked behind him and saw that I was having a difficult time getting through. He held out his hand so that he could pull me through. I hesitated for a second, but then grabbed onto his hand.

"Thanks," I said when I finally got next to him

"No prob," he said coolly and kept leading my to the bar.

We never dropped hands.

He got the ice from the bartender and then led me outside where it was a little less crowded. Out here we finally let go of each other. He handed me the ice and I put it on my wrist - it felt better then.

"You know, you get injured a lot. Has anybody told you that?" Edward teased.

"I only seem to get injured when you're around. Maybe it's your fault," I teased him back.

It was getting more crowded on the patio area, so he moved closer to me.

"I was worried for you on the bull. Knowing you track record with injuries I thought you might have fallen off and gotten a concussion," he joked.

"Ha ha, verrry funny," I told him flatly.

But he did laugh at this, which made me laugh a little too.

"You know, you're different down here," Edward stated.

I arched an eyebrow. "Good different or bad different?" I asked.

"Just different. Not what I expected," he said thoughtfully.

I was getting pushed on the other side of me, and now moved closer to him.

"Well, that's good...I guess," I stated, unsure of how to react.

"No, it's good. Trust me," he reassured me. He paused briefly after that. "Sorry about the whole shot thing earlier..."

"Don't worry, it's cool," I said cutting him off. I really didn't want to get into it.

"But," he began.

"Really. It's no different than what happened last night" I explained.

"Oh, with your cool new boyfriend?" he said, amused.

"Exactly!" I exclaimed.

Again we were both getting pushed closer. Who knew Saddle Ranch would be this busy on a Saturday night? I didn't. Now we were inches away from each other and I knew what would happen if we got any closer.

"On a scale of one to ten, how drunk are you?" I asked him.

I thought it was a legitimate question; in case anything happened in the next couple of minutes, I wanted to know if he would remember it the next day.

"Why?" he asked.

"Just wondering. I know there aren't any pools for you to jump in right now, but I just"

And then it happened. He kissed me. The same way I had kissed him yesterday, but now we both knew what was going on. I wasn't using him as a decoy or anything and this wasn't some dream kiss. Then it hit me, there was no dream kiss - he had actually kissed me on Halloween; and now we were kissing again. And it was great - no it was fucking amazing. The kiss started out slow and then quickly intensified. I dropped my bag of ice and quickly moved my arms around his neck, bringing him closer to me. I felt his arms around my waist , bringing me closer to him. My heart was racing more than it had been before with the shot. I wanted this to go on forever, but we needed to stop. I pulled back.

"You just kissed me," I stated

"Well, you kissed me first," he retorted with a smirk.

"No, you kissed _me_ first - on Halloween," I said with a half smile.

He shut his eyes dramatically then reopened them slowly. "I didn't think you remembered that."

Well I didn't at first... "I did," I lied.

"So," he said.

"So," I said smiling back at him

"Last call," a voice called from inside.

"Well, we better get ready to go in," Edward stated.

I nodded in agreement and began to walk inside, then I stopped, causing him to stop to.

"You never answered me about how drunk you are right now," I said slightly worried that he wouldn't remember.

"What? Worried that I won't remember any of this? Not a chance in hell," he said smirking and then leaned down, giving me a quick peck as he grabbed my hand.

I smiled back. That was good enough for me.

**so what'd you guys think? love it, hate it?**

**let me know. reviews are lovely and much appreciated :) _hint, hint_**


	17. Surprise!

**first of, THANK YOU!!!! to everyone who has reviewed/commented/pmed on my little story. i really appreciate and i love to hear what you guys think. so thank you - i wish i could show you guys how much i appreciate the comments (big virtual hug!)**

**second.... so i'm tyring something a little different here. i don't think this is going to happen a lot, but i just got the urge to try this out and i thought it gave the story a little more perspective. after the last chapter, i was a little burnt out and needed a bells/edward break**

**so.....**

**this chapter's from rose's pov **

**the next chapter will _most likely_(97% sure) be edward's pov, so it will be back to the norm**

**on top of all this, i also wanted to say a BIG BIG thank you to thecornergirl who once again beta'd for me - she's fantastic! if you haven't checked out her stories yet, go check out her page! **

**i hope you guys like the chapter :/**

**oh, and yea twilight isn't mine (wish it was though...)**

RPOV

We were almost back home now - back to the usual and back to my bed. This trip was fun, but I barely got any sleep, and not in the good way; I couldn't wait to get home and take a nap. The Swans were dropping Jazz, Edward, and I off first since we lived the furthest away. Except for that hoebag Angela, it had been a great trip. She had her own damn boyfriend there, why did she feel the need to flirt with mine? Fucking nympho. Apparently she just couldn't get enough, at least when it came to sex. Well, I really couldn't fault her for flirting with Em. I mean come on; who wouldn't want a piece of that? But still, she should have stayed the fuck away from my boyfriend. Poor Ben, he seemed like a really nice guy.

I was excited to show mom everything that I had bought. Hopefully she wouldn't get too mad and think that I went overboard - which was a possibility. I looked at my bags, there really weren't _that _many. I had even gotten her a cute Gucci wallet, in case she freaked out. It was glorious: turquoise alligator with a subtle Gucci logo in the front. Well...maybe I'll keep that and give her something else; I really did like that wallet. The Cavali clutch could work - I didn't even really want that. I just got it because James insisted. Who knows if she'll even like it, though, she'd been having the biggest mood swings lately. It's been kind of annoying because I've been feeling like I have been having to walk on eggshells around her. I wondered if Jasper and Edward had noticed this too.

We pulled into the driveway and the limo stopped. "Thanks for inviting us Bells. This was a great trip. I'll call you later," I told Bella.

I tried to get up and give her a hug, but she was too far into the car and there were too many other people in there - it wasn't worth maneuvering past everyone. Her parents, on the other hand, got out of the car to say goodbye. I went over and hugged her parents individually.

First up, Renee. "Thank you so much for everything!" I said hugging her. "And next time, you'll have to come shopping with us," I told her.

"Of course! I can't believe you all went without me!" Renee said slightly disappointed. "But maybe over the holidays we can take a little road trip down. Just the girls: you and your mom, Alice and hers, and Bella and I. I have a feeling that were all going to be doing a lot of shopping this year," she said a little more cheerfully. I thought it seemed like there might be some hidden meanings behind her words - but I didn't press and just left it alone.

I smiled back at her. "That's a great idea. I'll tell mom," I stated.

Jasper joined the two of us so I moved over to Charlie.

"Rosie," Charlie said, giving me a hug.

"Thanks for everything, I really had a great time," I told him.

"Well, I'm glad. It's always a pleasure having you around," he told me. "I'm just sorry we didn't get to do more stuff together, but then that was probably the point," he joked with a small laugh. "Besides, you all probably had a pretty good time on your own," he said with a knowing look.

I nodded at Charlie's comment, because he was right. It would have been fine having them around, but it would have been like we all were being babysat - and Charlie knew that. This was Charlie; he was cool - he wasn't like most parents. He wasn't like Carlisle. Not that Carlisle wasn't great, but he tended to want to do things all together. Probably trying to bridge the gap between him, Jasper, and I. Which was fine, but it could sometimes be a bit much and often felt like he gave the boys more leeway and space than he gave me. This was the downside of being a girl I suppose - parents being more protective of you than your brothers.

"Anyway, tell your parents we're looking forward to having dinner with them next week - just to pick a date. And tell your mother to call me!" Renee stated.

"Will do," Jazz said nodding his head and then gave her a hug.

Charlie and Renee got back into the car as Emmett got out so that he could say goodbye.

"Call me later?" I asked.

"Of course," Em said, kissing me briefly on the lips and squeezing my hand before he got back into the limo.

I sighed to myself; man, I was crazy about that guy. He wasn't like anyone else I had ever dated. I was just ridiculously enamored with him - I hated being apart from him. It felt like every little thing he did made me fall more in love with him. Actually, if I was being honest with myself, it was completely sickening. I had become one of _those_ girls - the ones who were all about their boyfriend. And, I really hated those girls. But it was just right when we were together: he was my other half. So I couldn't feel too bad about the fact that that I had crossed over to the dark side.

Jazz and I looked at each other waiting for Edward to finally get out the car. He was taking forever.

"Ahem!" I coughed loudly, clearing my throat.

Edward was already half out the limo, but I wanted to speed up the process. He held up a particular finger sending two messages in one: one, that he would be through in a minute and two, to fuck off.

I turned to go into the house, but not before hitting him in the head with some of my bags first. I smiled contently to myself that I had gotten him back, regardless of how immature that actually was, without getting into trouble. Whenever I did anything like that in the house and mom or Carlisle saw me, I always managed to get some sort of lecture, while Edward got away with whatever he did to me scot-free. Now, no one had seen besides Jazz, and really, what was he going to do, tattle?

Edward was acting weird the entire trip and especially on the ride back - but he was probably just tired like the rest of us. I don't know what was going on with him - but he was just acting odd, a little disconnected. Not that this was really my problem, but I did care what was going on with him. He _was _my brother after all.

"Jesus Rose; that fucking hurt. What the hell do you have in those bags?" Edward asked as the limo drove away.

I just kept walking to the door; disregarding his question. I walked into the foyer and plopped my bags down. "Mom? Carlisle?" I yelled.

"In here Rose," Carlisle answered back. His voice sounded like it was coming from the family room.

"Seriously Rose. What the hell?" Edward said rubbing his head with his free hand, as he dropped his bag next to mine.

"What?" I said innocently.

Like I was going to be able to get away with that. Bella was the only person I knew who could actually pull off the innocent act.

"Do I look like your fucking bellboy, you assholes?" Jasper said as he came in the door holding some more of my bags, a couple of Edward's, and his own lowly bag.

I didn't even realize that I had left things outside. I guess I had too many bags. Sometimes I couldn't believe he was my twin - we were so different in some ways. Packing was one of them. How could that retard only bring a small duffle bag on a trip like this?

"Honey; language," mom commented as she came around the corner.

"Sorry mom," Jasper stated and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey Esme," Edward said and mimicked Jasper's actions, except adding on a hug.

Edward had readily accepted mom as a parent, much easier than I had done with Carlisle. It was probably because he already knew mom before the nuptials. Since he and Jazz were close already, he thought of mom as a second mom already; especially since his biological mom died at such a young age. He actually had a close bond with Emmett's mom as well for this reason. It was sweet, actually, and in some ways I envied him. I wish I could just accept Carlisle as my own dad, the way Jasper did, but for some reason it was just harder for me. I resented the fact that he and Jasper just clicked automatically and that he and Edward were ridiculously close. But it would just take time for me; we'd already come far in the past four years so it could only get better.

I looked to mom and she smiled back. "So how was the trip?" mom asked, hugging me.

I hugged her back. "It was great. A big success! Renee wants to do a girl's trip during winter break," I told her.

She looked down at the bags. Her face was stoic - I couldn't tell her reaction. Good or bad; who knew?

"I see you brought plenty of souvenirs," she said, raising an eyebrow and smiling.

Good reaction.

"You could definitely say that - or call it more shi...crap that she's never going to wear," Jazz stated, going into the other room with Edward. "Oh, and Renee said to call her to plan dinner with them next week," he said popping his head out from the door frame.

"Thanks," mom told him.

I saw her scanning the bags - she looked curious about what I had gotten. An even better reaction than what I anticipated. Fantastic.

"So what'd you get?" mom asked enthusiastically.

I really hadn't gotten that much; it was just that there were a lot of bags. Well, I didn't think I had gotten a lot. Jasper, on the other hand, thought I had bought everything in Kitson.

"Well," I said reaching down and pulling out the silver dress I had worn the first night out, "there's this dress, which I wore Friday night. James, Mike's boyfriend - whom you'll love btw, picked it out for me and it looked phenomenal." I explained.

I waited for her reaction to the dress before I went on. She nodded in approval so I continued.

"Then I got a bunch of little casual things at Kitson and Lisa Klein, some shoes - which you can totally borrow. Um, this fantastic wallet and scarf from Gucci. A dress at Cavali - which is in the garment bag and..." I said reaching into the smaller Cavali bag to get the clutch. "This is for you," I said, handing her the bag.

She narrowed her eyes at the bag, inspecting it, and then suddenly hugged me again. "Rose, it's beautiful. I love it!" she said, with just a little too much emotion in her voice.

In fact, her voice cracked a little when she said that - strange.

"I'll wear it tonight to dinner. We're going to the new place in Port Angeles tonight - I hope it's good. Now, I just have to figure out what to wear with my new clutch," she said as she began climbing the stairs heading to her closet.

"Go in the other room; I think Carlisle wanted to do something with everybody now that you guys are back. And I know he'll want to hear all about the trip," she instructed.

I nodded and rolled my eyes at this, walking to the other room. Of course he wanted to do something, more family fucking bonding. I was tired and I had just spent the weekend _bonding_ with my brothers, wasn't that enough?

"Hey, welcome back," Carlisle said warmly, smiling at me.

"Thanks," I answered, leaning against the kitchen counter.

I smiled back. It was hard to be annoyed with Carlisle when he was all smiley, because it was just so genuine. Carlisle was a truly compassionate person and that came out in everything he did. So even if he was being annoying, which he was right now, you still couldn't help but smile because he was just so damn nice.

"So, what do you guys want to do? It's still early and there is plenty of time before we have to leave for the restaurant," Carlisle stated.

I looked at the other two - it didn't look like they were really in the mood to do anything either. This weekend really did wipe us all out.

"Uh, there's golf," Jazz suggested.

"Veto!" I adamantly declared.

In these types of "family discussions" we were all allowed one veto: in order to make everything fair, even though it usually wasn't.

"I meant miniature golf, Rose..." Jazz stated.

"Big golf. Miniature golf. It's all the same. Veto!" I told him.

"Ok, so golf is off the table. And by the look of you guys, I'm just going to guess that any sort of physical activity is probably not going to work either," Carlisle stated.

I was too tired to nod my head, but I saw Edward and Jasper take the lead with this one; agreeing with Carlisle on this.

"What about a movie?" Edward threw out.

A movie was doable. There was little to no effort involved there; all we had to do was sit in the dark and watch a screen - I could handle that. And there were actually a couple movies that I wanted to see that were out. But there were also movies that I didn't want to see that I knew Jasper and Edward did. Damn; I used my veto too early. I always did that.

"That's fine with me," I said.

Carlisle and Jasper nodded their heads in agreement as well.

"So which movie?" Carlisle asked.

Jasper looked at me and smiled. That bastard knew I already used my vetoing power and that it would most likely come to a vote - which I would most likely lose.

"There's that civil war epic out that looks good," Edward suggested, smiling at Jasper.

So, they were in on this together. Greeeattttt.

"Yea, that one looks really good," Jazz agreed.

Damn, I wish this were Emmett instead. I would automatically get my way then, or it would at least level the playing field. But since he wasn't here, I'd have to revert to our old way of doing things.

"How about that new Vince Vaughn movie - it's supposed to be really funny," I suggested and turned towards Carlisle to see his reaction.

Carlisle thought Vaughn was comedic genius - so I tried to use that angle and get him on board with my movie instead of the stupid civil war thing.

"Oh, I didn't know that movie was out yet. That would be a good choice," Carlisle stated.

Yes. Two on two.

I looked to the other two, waiting to see they would veto this choice. They probably would have, but I knew they both wanted to see this movie, as well. Though they kept silent and didn't veto, but I knew they were not going to go down without a fight.

"I dunno... it could be good, but I just don't know if I'm really in a comedy mood right now," Jazz responded.

"Well, if you're not in the mood for comedy, there's the new Sarah Jessica Parker..." I began.

"Veto!" both Jasper and Edward said at the same time.

"Well, it looks like it's a draw. You guys figure it out," Carlisle stated.

Hmm, Carlisle was leaving it up to us. That means it would come down to a vote, where I would still lose. Not good.

"Well, we could settle this the old fashion way," I told Jazz, making sure he would agree to this and not some stupid vote.

A slow smile crept across his lips. "It's on," he declared.

I saw Carlisle and Edward exchange a look; they had yet to see this little ritual between me and my brother.

I cleared the table while Jasper began looking for the "mat". He opened a bunch of drawers and cabinets but still hadn't found it. He looked over to me to see if I knew where it was, but I just shrugged because I had no clue where it was.

"Mom? Do you know where the 'mat' is?" I yelled up to her.

"What? Why?" she yelled back a little shocked. "Yes, I'll bring it down," she told us.

Jasper and I took our seats at the table, waiting for the cushioned mat to arrive. I stretched out my arms, shaking and stretching them out a little bit. Jasper did the same.

Mom walked into the living room and dropped the small mat onto the table. "Really you guys? You haven't done this in a while," she said.

"Well, I thought it was time to resurrect this tradition," I stated.

"Good call Rose," Jasper agreed.

"Alright, but don't get hurt. You guys aren't as evenly matched as you used to be," she said, slightly bitchy.

That was kind of rude...

"Are you saying that you think you that I'm going to win then mom?" Jasper asked smugly.

She shifted her eyes, looking away from me. "I didn't say that..." she said, trying to cover up the fact that she thought I was some sort of weakling.

I shot her a look. I couldn't believe she said that. I was tired before, but now I was pumped to kick Jasper's ass. Jazz had a cocky grin on his face - I was ready to wipe that smirk off his face. His ass was going down.

"Now, this might be a stupid question, but what are you guys talking about?" Carlisle asked, confused.

Edward's face signaled confusion but then blinked with recognition. He had heard us talking about this before, usually in similar circumstances when some sort of rift had come up and a civil resolution couldn't be established. Whenever he heard us talk about this, it was always in theory, hypothesizing who would win our old way. But he had yet to see us in action.

"Well... when the kids were younger, they used to fight - a lot; imagine that. So, instead of letting them go at it and terrorize each other constantly, they _discussed_ their grievances and problems in an arm wrestling match. It got pretty intense and after Jasper sprained his elbow from this, I got them the 'mat' in order to prevent all future injuries," she explained, walking over to the fridge and grabbing waters for Jazz and I.

"Oh, alright," Carlisle said. "Proceed then," he said with an amused smirk.

I looked at Jazz - he looked ready to go. I had been the champion of this when we were younger. Almost every time we fought, I came out victorious, but I had stopped challenging him to arm wrestling matches when I realized that Jasper was getting stronger than me. It didn't matter now, though. I didn't care if he could lift a million pounds, after what mom said, today, I was going to win. Mind over matter, right?

"Come on Rosie. Scarred you'll lose?" Jasper taunted.

"Ha! Like that could ever happen," I responded back.

"Alright then," he stated

"Oh, and NO cheating. From either of you - got it?" mom said placing the bottles of water near us.

We both nodded our heads, but knew everything was fair game.

I placed my hand on the mat, signaling I was ready to begin. Jasper followed my lead.

"So, by intense, you mean..." Edward started to say.

Jasper looked at him about to answer and I used this to my advantage. I started applying pressure to his hand, putting all my weight on it - hoping that I would be able to take him down early since he was distracted.

No such luck, though.

"Cheap shot," Jasper spat at me and began applying pressure back, swaying my arm back to the middle.

"Rookie mistake," I shot back at him, standing up to get more leverage and pushing the table closer to him with the rest of my body - trying to throw him off.

He mimicked my actions and shot up too.

Now, we were both standing and pressing against the table, trying to mess the other one up: attempting to throw the other person's arm off balance.

"Guys, the floor," mom lectured.

But neither of us stopped pushing. She could always replace the floor boards if we scratched them.

Our arms fluctuated. His side. My Side. His side. My Side. This went on for a while; I think I even started to sweat - gross.

I was proud of myself. I was actually doing really well. but I could feel myself slipping. I tried to think up different ways to throw him off, but I didn't really want to win by cheating, especially after what mom said about me being not as strong as Jazz. I mean she was right, but it was a low blow. And I could hear it now, 'The only way you could beat me was because you cheat'... blah, blah, blah. So I let go of the table and stopped pushing with my other hand. This threw off Jazz slightly, but he came back.

He looked a little confused by my actions, allowing me to readjust my hand while he could not. He was unable to readjust and he knew that I knew he couldn't.

I _was_ going to win.

A victorious smile crossed my face and I began applying as much pressure to his hand as I possibly could. I was glad my trainer made me lift 10 pound weights now...maybe I could go up to 12 after this. His hand was slowly coming down, not without resistance, though; he was freakishly strong for his size. But I pushed and pushed. I knew the only reason I was going to win was because I had a better angle and position than he did - but really, isn't that what most wins are all about? It's not whether the person is actually better, it's who has the better opportunity and position. And in this case, I was the one in the better position.

"Come on Jazz," I heard Edward encourage from behind me.

That did it. A low snarl came out of my mouth and I dealt my brother his final blow.

"Thank you Edward," I said cockily.

Jasper looked at his arm down on the table and then narrowed his eyes at me. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but then shut it.

"I believe I remain the champ. And I guess that _also_ means I get to choose the movie," I said grabbing the bottle of water and walking out of the room.

My arm was killing me and now I was even more exhausted, but I wasn't about to let any of them know that.

*************************************************************

I was still riding high on my victory from earlier. The movie wasn't that great, but it didn't matter. The movie could have just been a black screen the entire time and I still would have been happy with my choice.

Jasper was still pouting and trying to figure out how I'd beat him and Edward was still being unusually quiet. He talked, but mostly it seemed like he was disconnected or thinking about other things. Because of this, the majority of the dinner conversation relied on me telling everyone about the trip.

"All in all, it sounds like you guys had a good time," Carlisle stated.

"Yea, it was a lot of fun," Jasper responded.

I only nodded my head, since I had been the one to tell them it was fun. I thought that answering would be a little redundant and unnecessary.

Mom and Carlisle then turned to Edward, who seemed to be tuned out. He didn't even notice they were looking at him for a while.

"Edward?" mom asked.

He seemed to snap out of it after the mention of his name. "Yea, it was fun," he said, but sounded like he was thinking about something else.

"Well, I'm glad you all had a good time," Carlisle said with a smile.

The waiter came by with dessert. I looked around the room; something was off, there were no other people in there. Had it been like this the whole time? There was no reason for us to have a private room either, since it was just the five of us.

"Here are the crème brule, the lava cake, and the key lime torte. Is there anything else I can get for you?" the waiter asked.

"No, thank you," Carlisle answered as the waiter walked away.

This was odd too; we didn't usually order dessert. I looked at Jasper who seemed to have picked up on this unusual occurrence as well. Edward was still in la la land, so I didn't even bother looking over to him. I stiffened a little bit.

"We have some good news," Carlisle announced, warily.

Oh, that made sense. Mom probably got the deal for the renovation of the new Forks library that she's been working on for months. I relaxed a little bit, but Jasper still looked a little on edge and confused. He must think that this announcement wasn't actually going to be good news.

Edward had finally joined the land of the coherent and looked similar to Jasper. Why were they worried - it was probably good, nothing to worry about.

Maybe we were moving again; that would definitely not be good. No, that was not a possibility. They said we wouldn't move again and I was not leaving Emmett - no fucking way. That would explain why mom and Carlisle looked a little uneasy about telling us.

"Ok, so what is it? Spit it out," I insisted, getting a little more worried.

Mom and Carlisle looked at each other again. More of that damn uneasy look - no good.

"Ok. I'm pregnant!" mom announced.

My mouth hung open. I looked through the corner of my eye at Jazz and Edward, who had the exact same look on their faces. This is why we were in a room by ourselves - they weren't sure how we were going to take this news. And taking us out, in order to make sure no one threw a fit - bravo. But how did this happen? I mean, I know how this _can_ happen....

They must have realized we were all in a state of shock because none of us said anything for a while.

"Just so you know, we didn't plan this," mom tried to explain.

"Are you guys ok?" Carlisle asked.

There was still silence on our end. I don't think any of us knew how to respond.

"Aren't you too old to get pregnant?" I spat out.

Jasper and Edward kicked me from under the table. Wait... did I say that out loud? Fuck!

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say that mom. It came out wrong. I don't think you're old or anything," I started.

And Jasper filled in the rest for me, shooting me a look. "_We_ just thought that the whole baby ordeal would be over and done with by now...or at least a minimal concern," he said, covering for me.

I looked at mom; she didn't look offended, but they had also just dropped a bomb on us, so I was probably pardoned. But I mean how did they expect us to react to this? She smiled at me and then at my brothers.

"You guys are right. We weren't concerned and we didn't think... but surprise, surprise," she said with a slight enthusiasm.

"We know it's going to take time to adjust to this," Carlisle told us.

He could say that again.

"How far are you along?" Edward asked.

"About three and a half months," mom said.

She didn't show at all, so there would have been no way to physically tell. But that does explain all the mood swings, lately, and the intense reaction to the clutch earlier today. But five and a half more months of this... and the mood swings were only going to get worse.

Crap.

**sooooo? what's you think?**

**please let me know what you think... did i do rose justice or just get her pov f'd up?**

**reviews are lovely :) and my only connection to you guys - so let me know (cause i could think its fabulous and you all think its crap, lol)**


	18. Pow Wow

**ok... so sorry it has taken me this long ot get this chapter up but there has been a lot of craziness in my life over the last couple of weeks. first my computer flips out. then i get a new job. then i was on vacation for a week without any real form of technology...so its been crazy. i've had the chapter done for a little bit, but since i had no computer, i had no way of getting it up! so i hope you guys understand! and a million appologies! **

**again thecornergirl beta'd this for me - she is AMAZING! seriously!**

**and again (i know i used again twice, sorry) thank you for everyoen who's commenting and sending pms, really you guys make my day and i love hearing from you! i love hearing what you guys have to think about the story. so let me knwo what you think, or one just saying wat up, lol. **

EPOV

Baby.

Bella.

This had, for sure, been an interesting day. I could not complain that it had been boring, to say the least. I mean, Esme was; and really, that probably _should _have been the first thing on my mind, but I just couldn't stop thinking about Bella and what had gone down this weekend. Was she thinking about me? No - stop being such a woman! Focus. This girl cannot simply take over your whole thought process...

Throughout the rest of dinner, after their announcement, I had to make myself focus and join in on the conversation. I did care what was going on, but my head had been back in LA all day. I knew I was being distant and probably seemed out of it to them, but I wasn't about to let them in on what I was thinking; especially since I didn't even know what I was thinking. I stayed focused for the rest of the time at the restaurant, asking questions and just taking in the news. The drive home had been fairly awkward, no one knowing what to say, but luckily Dad and Esme didn't say anything more on the subject in the car. They just allowed the news to sink in more and let us dictate the tone for the rest of the evening.

Now Rose, Jasper and I were having our own little discussion before we went off to bed. It seemed like Rose had been the one most taken aback by the news - or just needed more time to deal. We were sitting in the game room, which was where the three of us usually went when we wanted to be alone or just wanted to talk about things without our parents knowing about it. I was fairly sure they knew when we were having one of our little meetings, but they always let us do our thing and gave us some distance.

"So... thoughts?" Rose asked.

I looked to Jazz who had a blank look on his face; I couldn't really tell what he was thinking. And honestly, I had no idea what I was thinking or what my thoughts on this were. Due to my own _distraction_, I really had only heard half of the conversation and hadn't even really formed my own thoughts on this aside from, a baby is coming in five and a half months. For all I knew, Esme could have said she was carrying Siamese triplets and I wouldn't have the vaguest idea.

"I dunno. Mostly shocked, I guess," Jazz said, yawning and looking and the clock which read 11:45.

They both turned to me; it was my turn to talk.

"Yea, I'm pretty surprised as well. I didn't see this coming at all," I said rubbing my eyes.

I thought back on the words that I had just said, that I hadn't seen this coming - which was sort of weird. I usually knew when something was up, kinda like a sixth sense. I was good at reading people. I knew when something was going on. I knew when Dad was going to propose to Esme before he told me about it. And I also knew we were moving back to Forks before they had told us, as well. But this whole baby thing had blindsided me, which was odd. I sighed and closed my eyes again briefly- my head was hurting me. Thinking about this, and everything else that had gone on today was too much. My brain was starting to hurt from it all. Too much thinking makes Edward want to go insane.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Well duh! I'm not fucking retarded; I know we're all surprised, but what do we think? Is this a good or a bad thing?" she asked.

"Rose, I don't really think you can classify a baby as a bad thing," I stated. "Besides, you love babies..."

Jasper nodded. "I agree," he said, "It's a baby - I guess it's a good thing," he said with a slight inflection in his voice, clueing me into his uncertainty.

"I suppose," Rosalie said softly. "I just don't know. I mean, you're right, I do love babies, but, have you thought about how this is going to affect us? I'm not trying to be self-centered or anything, but I don't think this is going to be an easy pregnancy. And, aside from the crazy hormonal mood swings, what else should we expect? We weren't around when mom was pregnant before, cause we were the babies then... So we have no idea how mom was like when she was pregnant with us," she said looking at Jasper. "We've got no ideas how intense the mood swings were then, and the fact that she's always said that she had a rough time with us. So, for all we know it's gotten worse the second time around. On top of everything else when the baby actually comes: the crying, the feedings, the late nights, and the dirty diapers. I like babies, but for a short period of time - one where I don't have to change any diapers," she said, concluding her small rant.

Jasper and I looked at each other with blank looks - clearly, we hadn't even thought this far ahead. I mean what Rose said had merit and should be considered, but right now I was just too worn out and mentally exhausted. I'd deal with all of this tomorrow.

"Anyway, I need to call Em. I'll give you guys some time to think about his because it's pretty clear that the male mind doesn't work as quickly as the female mind does by the look on your faces. We'll talk about this tomorrow. Night guys," she said, getting up and heading out the door to her room.

"I guess we 'have a lot to think about'," Jasper said in his best Rosalie impression, with a slight chuckle. "See you in the morning," he said, walking out the room as well.

I got up and walked to my adjoining door. I paused, considered going to my piano for a little while before bed in a attempt to clear my head, but then decided against it. All the noise would have woken everyone up. This was the reason my room was the only one that connected to the game room which housed the piano. I didn't have enough space in my room to fit my piano, so they let me have the adjoining room. I was supposed to share it with Rosalie and Jasper, which I did, but they mostly thought of it as a continuation of my room.

I exhaled and looked at my bed; it looked like absolute heaven at the moment. I was so tired I didn't even want to change. I thought about it for a moment but figured sleeping in my jeans wouldn't be all that comfortable. I got some clothes out of my dresser and quickly changed into my pajama bottoms and a tee shirt. I got into my bed as soon as I changed, not even bothering to brush my teeth, it would have just taken too much effort. I closed my eyes for a while and tried to sleep - but that didn't seem to work even though I was exhausted. My eyes popped open and just stared at the ceiling, they were probably going to be red tomorrow.

As long I was up, I reached for my phone in my pants pocket; no new messages or missed calls. Damn. But what was I really expecting? I didn't have Bella's number and she didn't have mine. I mean she could have gotten it from Alice or Em, but that was highly unlikely. I got a feeling she didn't want to say anything about what happened over the weekend to anyone. Which was good, because neither did I. If they found out, it would only lead to questions. Questions like "What does this mean?", "Are you together?" and so on; making me answer things that I really couldn't answer. I had no idea what any of this meant and if it was anything more than a very weird weekend. All I knew for sure was that I wanted to keep all this all between Bella and I - keeping Bella to myself in a certain way.

I mean, I think there was something between us - at least there was on my side. That kiss on Saturday was pretty amazing and if I was being honest, it was probably the best kiss I had ever had. And there was definitely a spark, which was also key. Looking back, though, all of our kisses had a spark. Our first one on Halloween was feeling out the waters, I guess acting on impulse. I didn't really know why I did it then, aside from it seeming like a good idea at the time. But, subconsciously, I must have known: I was drawn to Bella, even though I tried to resist it. And when she kissed me on Friday, I didn't want her to stop. The spark was already ignited from the first kiss and this second kiss made it even clearer to me that something was going on with Bella. But what that "something" was I had no idea; - it could be just as simple as a passing crush. And this is what had left me utterly distracted all day and now with a headache.

All I knew for sure was that I was intrigued by Bella Swan and wanted to be around her. I wanted to get to know her and right now I wanted to talk to her, especially with this whole baby bomb that was just dropped. Rose was probably talking to Emmett right now about it and, I admit, I was jealous. I was envious that I didn't have someone to talk to about this. And also kind of jealous that Rose had Bella's number and I didn't. I was jealous of Rosalie - what the fuck?

This _never_ happens. I must be seriously sleep deprived.

I looked over to my alarm; it was almost two now. I had to sleep soon or I was going to be completely incoherent for school tomorrow - or later in the morning, depending on how you looked at it . School meant I would be able to see Bella and talk to her - hopefully getting her number in the process. I closed my eyes again, willing myself to finally go to sleep. Tomorrow I had a goal, I would get Bella's number. And get it the right way, not by just getting it from Alice or Emmett, but by asking her.

***********************************************************

The ride to school had been pretty quiet, which it usually was when it was just me and Jasper, but today Rosalie had driven in with us - which was a little unusual. She typically drives with the girls or with Emmett, but with everything that went down last night, she probably wanted to talk about Esme's announcement. She didn't say anything, though; which again was unusual, especially since she had basically told us last night that she expected us all to discuss our thoughts on the pregnancy. Instead, we just drove in silence listening to the music. She probably figured we needed more time to come to grips with everything that was going on, so she just left it alone and didn't press us.

During my first class, instead of actually paying attention, I had given this whole pregnancy thing a little more thought, but not by much. I hadn't gotten much sleep last night and I knew I probably looked like shit. I didn't hear my alarm go off, and this made all of us late for school. I barely had time to throw on my uniform before we were out the door. But somehow, divine intervention perhaps, I had woken up fairly clear headed - well, as clear headed as I could be running on five hours sleep for basically the whole weekend. I was still wrapping my head around the idea of Dad and Esme having a baby; now, biologically having a sibling. And a younger one at that. On the whole, I think I was fine with it. In a way, it was like this solidified their marriage which was kind of nice. Well, at least for the moment, this is what I thought.

All things baby went out the window, though, the minute I walked into French and saw Bella. Since we had been late I hadn't had a chance to see her this morning. It was like I was no longer tired, but almost as if I had a surge of adrenaline when I saw her. I tried to compose myself a little: running a hand through my hair, attempting to make it look less slept in, if that was possible and straightening out my clothes. At least I was able to brush my teeth this morning - two times in a row of not brushing is just disgusting. I reached down to my pocket to find a fresh piece of gum just in case; you could never be too minty fresh.

I was focused solely on her, stopping in the doorway so I could just watch her for the moment. She was faced away from the door and had not noticed I was there. Which was a good thing, because right now I probably looked like her fucking stalker. This wasn't meant to be creepy, no matter how it actually looked; she just seemed so serene sitting there reading. She was so calm that I didn't want to walk over there and disturb her. I just enjoyed watching her.

"Hey Edward," Stanley purred, pushing up against me before heading to her seat.

I groaned, giving her a slight frown. She really could be too much at times.

Bella's head snapped up and turned towards the door when she heard my name said. She looked directly at me, giving me a half smile. She then saw Stanley looking over at me and connected that she was the one who had called my name. She rolled her eyes and groaned as well, turning her smile into a tight grimace.

I quickly made my way to my seat next to Bella, completely ignoring Stanley.

"Hey," I said with a small smile, waiting to see her response.

"Hey," she said a bit more enthusiastic than I anticipated from the way she looked. "Where were you this morning? Everything ok?" she asked concerned.

I let out a bigger smile; she was worried about where I was. Well, she was either concerned or being polite... But usually, when it came to pleasantries with me, Bella didn't really seem too worried about being polite.

"We were just running late," I explained.

"I see..." she said looking me over. "You've got the whole bed head thing going on, but it isn't really doing it for me," she joked, reaching over and gently playing with the front of my hair. "The stubble could work, though."

I started closing my eyes when she did this, but midway through I realized what I was doing and turned opening my eyes into an eye roll. Closing my eyes at this moment was just too personal and intimate, and we were not there... yet. I had to turn it into a joke, because she was joking... I think.

I exaggerated my eye roll and playfully swatted her arm away. "Good to know, Vidal Sassoon," I teased.

She stared at me blankly. "Who's that?" she asked.

"Seriously?" I asked.

She didn't flinch - she was being serious.

"You know, Vidal Sassoon? The hair guy? He's pretty famous, got salons everywhere. He's got hair products all over like drug stores or supermarkets," I explained, a little shocked that she didn't know who he was. I mean I've never used any of his products, but I at least _knew_ who the guy was.

"Well, that would make sense then. I've never gotten my hair products from a drug store or a supermarket," she said, slightly smug.

I guess she must have thought I had.

"Well, someone's _spoiled,"_ I joked. "Just so you know, this is what some of the commoners use, princess."

"Ha ha...very funny," she said flatly, but then smiled afterward signaling that she didn't take offense to what I said. "But seriously, are you sure you're ok? You're eyes are really red and you look exhausted," she said, her big brown eyes looking at me with sincerity.

I shrugged and nodded. "I'm alright, a little tired but fine," I said, basically telling the truth. I was a lot tired, but right now, I felt fine. "We just kind of had a big night," I explained.

She raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued and concerned at the same time. Unfortunately, as she opened her mouth, continuing the conversation, class began. Ms. Foster began talking and did not let up at all. Apparently, she was in a talkative mood today. Bella kept looking over at me, waiting for a moment when we could talk, but each time was thwarted by stupid Foster. She kept looking over at Bella, as if to make sure that she was abiding by the rules - which she was, begrudgingly. It was actually pretty cute. Each time Bella tried to talk, she was always cut off or caught by Foster, making her more frustrated each time. I had to contain my laughter and even restrain myself from smiling because if I didn't I knew I would probably have had a huge, retarded grin on my face. And this would have been tricky to explain since we were discussing conjugations which were neither particularly interesting or entertaining.

By the time Foster had finished talking it looked like Bella was going to explode: she was tense and fidgeting, seemed annoyed and was slightly red. At least we would be working in partners so we would be able to talk.

Bella grabbed her stuff and scooted her desk closer to mine so that we could talk and not worry as much about being over heard. Stanley looked over at Bella, as she scooted her desk closer, and gave her a dirty look before flashing me a flirtatious smile. I reached over and pulled Bella's desk as close to mine as it would go, looking away from Stanley. I really shouldn't get into the bull shit, high school, drama, but Stanley was really starting to annoy me; _and_ I really didn't the like the way she kept looking at Bella. I really regretted ever touching her now.

Bella's eyes seemed to have lit up as I pulled her closer, causing me smile to myself.

"Alright, so explain. What happened? Is everything ok?" she asked, concerned. "I would have asked sooner but fucking Foster has been riding my ass about 'doing whatever I want' in class and threatened to lower my grade. Even though I speak better fucking French than her," she explained, somewhat agitated.

"Don't worry about it, I understand. It's no big deal. Dad and Esme just had some news for us when we got back," I said.

Her face sank a little, but she tried not to show it. She must have thought it was bad news. Rose and Jasper thought this too. I guess I was the only one who didn't jump to this conclusion.

"Sorry to disappoint; we're not moving away," I joked, trying to lighten the mood and get another smile out of her.

She relaxed a little at this and the edges of her lips turned up, but it was not the particular smile I was going for.

"So what is it then; since it looks like I'm going to be stuck with you for a little while longer," she teased back, allowing her smile to grow wider.

This was what I was going for.

I ran my hand through my hair. I really did need to take a shower.

I fidgeted a little and looked down. "Esme's pregnant," I spat out.

Her face went blank. She looked shocked.

I nodded. "Yup. That's pretty much the same reaction Rose, Jasper and I had to the news," I told her.

"Well, that's good to know," Bella said nodding her head, taking in the information.

She composed herself and then turned and looked directly at me. "Are you ok with all of this? This has to be a lot for you to take in," she asked, placing her hand on top of mine.

She didn't hesitate - no pausing, waiting, or wavering. She just put her hand on mine; like this was something we did all the time, routine. I briefly considered moving my hand away, but then figured that would probably be the stupidest decision I'd make all day.

She still held my gaze - not looking away; almost like she was searching for an answer. I didn't know if she was looking for an answer about the pregnancy or about what had gone on in LA. Because, really, it could be either one.

Her eyes were piercing. I had to say something.

"Yea, I'm alright. I'm adjusting... at least better than Rosalie. She seems to be freaking out a little bit," I finally answered her.

I focused more on the pregnancy issue now. It was easier to deal with - much easier than the thing that _actually_ needed to be addressed between the two of us.

"Seriously?" she pressed, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Like I said, I'm adjusting. But I think I'm ok. I think I'm actually kind of excited to have a little brother or sister... Then again, I've really only thought about this for the last hour or so..." I stated.

She scrunched her forehead, confused. "You said you found out about this last night... So Mr. Cullen, what were you thinking about this whole time since then?" she asked, intrigued.

Fuck! I'm literally retarded - this is what no sleep does to me: diarrhea of the mouth and the incapacity to think. Well, it's either no sleep or Bella. I wasn't supposed to say that. Now, she wanted me to answer and I really didn't want to have this talk in the middle of French.

I looked to the clock - it had to ring at any moment.

And it did.

"Talk at lunch?" Bella asked with a half smile as she got up.

This bought me some time to figure out what I was going to say and how to approach this properly - giving it some thought, so I wouldn't come off looking like an ass. At least she didn't press the issue now and, in fact, it looked like she was in a hurry to go. I could tell that she wanted or needed to leave but was waiting for me to respond.

"Sounds good," I said nodding my head.

She looked relieved to finally be able to leave - hopefully because she had something due in her next period and not because she wanted to get away from me.

"Kay. See you then," she said, further messing up my hair on her way out.

***********************************************************

Talking at lunch had not happened. In fact, Bella wasn't even at lunch. I was starting to worry that she was avoiding me. Alice had been in and out of lunch as well. They were probably doing something for student council or the charity committee...hopefully.

Jazz and I walked into Chem and found Bella and Alice already there. They were setting up our table for the lab we must have to do this period.

"What's all this?" Jasper asked, as he dropped his stuff next to his usual seat.

Alice shook her head, picking up his stuff and moving it to where Bella usually sat.

"Robling thinks we need to change up lab partners. So, I convinced him to do _this:_ instead of moving seats we're just switching lab partners. So Jazz, sorry to break up your little love fest, but your with me," she said with just the hint of flirtation in her voice. "Edward, you're with Bella now. So play nice you two," she said, looking directly at Bella. Clearly, that last comment was made for her benefit.

Bella rolled her eyes and threw a cotton ball at her. "I _always _play nice," she stated.

"Suuurrrree," Jasper said with a laugh.

Bella threw a cotton ball at him, as well.

"Partners again I see..." I said with a raised eyebrow.

I knew this was no coincidence. Alice still hadn't made her play for Jasper and this was all just part of her little plan. I knew how that little schemer worked; this was classic Alice. It just so happened that this also worked in my favor. I made a mental note to do something special for my cousin to thank her for this turn of events.

"You know it," Bella said leaning back in her chair. "And sorry about lunch. I was helping Alice with this ASB thing - but we _will_ talk. I promise," she said, much, much quieter; in fact it was barely over a whisper.

I felt reassured that she hadn't blown me off, which eased my mind.

"No worries. I never thought you were blowing me off," I stated confidently, covering up my actual feelings on this.

"Well, aren't you self-assured?" she teased.

"Always," I said in a smug smile.

"What are you two whispering about?" Alice butted in.

"We were just talking about how J and I would make such a great couple," Bella said, resting her head on Jasper's shoulder.

I stifled a laugh and cocked my head to the side. "Yea, I can definitely see that," I added.

Jasper's face didn't flinch. "That could work for me," he stated coolly.

Alice stayed quiet the entire time and looked like she was about to kill Bella and I.

Bella pretended to get nervous and started fidgeting. "So, I guess the big question is, will you go steady with me?" Bella joked sarcastically.

Before Jasper could respond, or Alice could throttle her, class began.

Robling explained what the lab was, giving us directions and then letting us do our own thing. Though he had just gone over everything, I hadn't really paid any attention to what he said. Hopefully I wouldn't singe anything off or dye myself blue or anything.

It wasn't like I was deliberately not paying attention - there was just a lot going on right now, all of which took president over chemistry. I think it's understandable my attention was wandering.

"So, you ready to do this?" Bella asked, feigning enthusiasm.

"You know it..." I answered her with the same fakeness.

We all began to quietly work. Bella poured the measurements and handed me the beakers, figuring I knew what we were supposed to be doing. Our hands briefly touched as she handed me the last beaker - my hand on top of hers, trying to get a hold of the glass. She jumped a little - nothing noticeable to anyone else but me. We both just let our hands stay there for a second. I could feel the corners of my lips curving into a smile. I knew we couldn't stay that way long, because someone would notice, but I didn't want to move my hand away from hers. I briefly glanced at her; she didn't looked like she wanted to move her hand away either. She looked at me, as well, giving me a small smile, but then moved her hand quickly afterwards, as if not to be caught by anyone. She turned and began fidgeting with her bag.

I couldn't keep doing this, I had to keep cool. I focused my attention to the experiment in front of me.

When she had finished getting a piece of gum from her purse she eyed me suspiciously as I poured the clear liquid, which I thought was water, in with the white powder.

She quickly took the beaker away. "You don't have any idea what you're doing, do you?" she declared.

"So what else is new?" Alice joked.

"Ha. Ha. Ha," I flatly answered back.

"So, do you all know about the new addition?" Jasper asked, building a cotton ball pyramid.

Bella looked confused - she had a good poker face. Alice merely looked away. Both already knew.

"Hmmm?" Alice said, playing along.

"The bouncing baby bundle of joy," Jazz continued.

"I think you mixed up your baby sayings," Bella explained.

"Whatever, you get the point," he said, throwing a cotton ball at her from the top of his pyramid.

"A baby huh? That's a surprise," she said swatting the cotton ball.

"Don't pretend like you didn't already know; you little faker," he told her. "You too!" he said to Alice, throwing a cotton ball at her as well.

"Well, I really had no idea," I joked, tossing a cotton ball at Jasper.

Then cotton balls started flying between the two of us. The girls just sat back and watched, neither willing to participate.

"Alright. Enough with all the flying balls," Alice stated, taking away Jasper's pile of cotton balls away from him.

Jasper and I looked at each other, unsuccessfully trying to stifle our laughs.

"That's what she said," Jasper said with a slight chuckle at the end.

The two of us high fived at this.

"Really? That's a fucking Em comeback," Bella stated, pushing her hair out of her face.

"I know, but the timing was perfect. And also, every time an Emmett saying is uttered somewhere, an angel gets its wings," he joked, putting on his safety giggles and grinning.

"Shut the fuck up," Alice said, snapping the back of Jasper's goggles.

The two of them began bickering at this, going back and forth playfully, which was what Alice was probably going for. Jasper seemed to be taking the bait. Maybe this little game of hers would be over soon then.

This left me alone with Bella, which sort of worked out. But I didn't want to risk Alice, Jasper or anyone else, for that matter, overhearing us talk. I needed to act normal, especially after the extended, quasi, hand brush, which someone could have seen. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I didn't want to risk anything. I needed to act more like I had _before _we went on the trip. Basically, I had to be an ass - which shouldn't be that hard since I had 18 years of practice perfecting it.

"Can you hand me the empty beaker?" Bella asked with a small smile.

Why did she have to smile at me now? This whole ass thing was going to be harder than I thought. I mean, before I had been an ass to whomever and not really given it a second thought, even to Esme - but I tended to feel bad about that after the fact and generally apologized or did something nice for her. But Bella, she made me _want_ to be better and treat her the best that I possibly could. And this smile just reinforced this. I could treat her like that when we were alone, but this isn't how I should be acting right now. Especially when I want to keep this out of everybody's radar.

I took the beaker and slid it towards her with the back of my hand, looking to the opposite corner of the room.

"Uh, thanks," she said, sounding a little dejected.

I took my phone out and started playing with it. I answered texts from people I would never usually respond back to. I sent some out to random people. Basically, I did anything I could think of so I wouldn't have to talk to or pay attention to Bella at all. I knew this must have looked bad to her, but it would have been worse to blatantly be a prick to her... or at least I thought so. I quickly glanced at Bella and then returned to my phone. Her face had changed slightly, from being calm and at ease to being a little harder and solemn. I still hadn't really figured this girl out - I didn't think I ever would. At least this way she might not think that I was being a total ass...maybe. I could feel her looking at me. I knew I wasn't helping and that the period was almost over. I finally looked up at her, meeting her gaze. I tried to express what I was doing in my face: that I was doing this for us, for the possibility of us, but I doubt it came across that way. She just looked at me, disappointed, and then looked down, hardening her facial expression.

"I'll just do my part and you do yours," she stated coldly, scooting what I needed to do onto my side.

The divide was set. The invisible barrier was up and this was not what I had wanted. We had been in such a good place all of today and now it was going downhill fast. This was not how I wanted things to go down at all. I did not want her, of all things, disappointed in me.

She continued working on the experiment diligently; in fact if I didn't know better, I would think that Bella was trying to get out of this classroom as quickly as possible.

I used this to my advantage. I knew there wasn't enough time left in class to finish the experiment, so I drew out all of my actions. We wouldn't finish in time and then we would have to stay afterwards to clean up, forcing us to interact and talk - even if she didn't want to. It was brilliant - almost as good as Alice's scheming. Ten more minutes to kill; shouldn't be that hard.

"Aren't you guys done yet? You're fucking slow," Alice stated matter-of-factly.

"Not all of us can be as fast as you munchkin," I teased.

"Ha, ha, ha," she said grabbing the lab materials and putting them away.

"Alright you guys. Attention!" Mr. Robling yelled from the front of the room. "If you haven't finished your labs yet, you'll have to do so tonight. They are due tomorrow. So get your partner's number or figure out a time to meet up later to work on this," he explained as the class grumbled.

This worked out even better. A built in excuse for having to talk to Bella later. The odds were in my favor today. Alice must have known about this ahead of time and _conveniently_ had Robling change lab partners for this. Sneaky!

"So, when do you want to do this?" I asked Bella nonchalantly.

No response. She was ignoring me, which wasn't completely unwarranted.

"J? Can I just borrow your lab report later?" she asked Jasper.

"Uh, I dunno. Ask Alice. I don't know when we're meeting or when we'll be done," he explained, as he helped put away the rest of the supplies.

With no one else at the table I moved directly next to Bella, so that I was directly behind her and so that my face was next to her ear. She gasped and then froze - probably not expecting this. I knew she was unsure of what I was doing, because I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing. My nose was almost in her hair. The scent of her shampoo was intoxicating.

I slowly brushed my hand down her side and felt my hand against hers - they didn't really touch but more like my hand hovered above hers. I wanted to hold her hand and bring her closer to me. I could feel her back against me, and it seemed like she had relaxed against me slightly, so that she was getting closer to me. I was taken a little aback at this, but loved every minute of this. All I wanted, no needed, to do right now was kiss her. And not some bull shit peck. I wanted an intense, mind-blowing, deep kisses, kind of like the one in LA. Being this close to her was dangerous; I nearly forgot where we were. I braced myself to move closer, even holding my breath.

"We really need to work on this Bella," I told her in a raspy voice, mostly because I was unsure of how to talk while holding my breath.

She was silent and still. I moved back to my seat as Jasper and Alice came back to the table.

I gave her a minute, but still nothing.

"Bella? Is everything ok?" Alice began as the bell interrupted her.

As the bell went off, Bella grabbed her bag and bolted out the door. She didn't bother staying even though the experiment wasn't done or our station cleaned up. She even left a good majority of her stuff behind.

"That was odd," Jazz stated.

Well, I thought to myself, not really, given what had just happened.

"I better get this stuff to her before the charity meeting," Alice said, gathering Bella's stuff.

"NO!" I said a little overly enthusiastic.

Both Jasper and Alice both eyed me suspiciously.

"No," I said again, lowering my voice and relaxing this time. "Let me take it. We need to figure out when we're going to work on this lab," I explained.

"Alright," Alice said, slowly handing me Bella's stuff.

"See you at practice," Jasper called out as he headed out the door, not waiting for a response.

"Ok, see you later," Alice said cautiously. "Have fun finishing this up by yourself," she said in her normal Alice tone, walking out the door.

"Cullen, finish up," Mr. Robling said, as he too, left the room.

I leaned back in my chair and looked at the experiment. There was still a lot to do and she had just left me to finish it all by myself. That was alright, though. At least I had got her attention and maybe a little rise out of her. I didn't know if this was a good or bad thing, but I hoped it meant that there _was_ a spark happening. Because no one reacted the way she did if there was nothing there - I was sure of it. And that was what I was counting on.

**soooo? what'd you think? let me know. i'd looooove to hear/read you thoughts and opinion. **

**the next chapter is going to be bella's pov and they are going to have "the talk". so for sure, let me know what you guys think, cause the next chapter will be a biggie**

**all opinions and comments would be greatly appreciated!!**


	19. Family Dinner

**soo, to begin with, i hope everyone had a fantastic 4th - that day off from work really helped out with my writting. i've been working so much that its hard to find a good chunk of time to just sit down and write!**

**sorry this has taken a little longer than anticipated, but like i said, works been nuts and this chapter just took waaaaay longer than originally anticipated!**

**here is the long anticipated "talk" chapter. i really hope you guys like it :) its kinda a long one**

**again thank you guys for your reviews and pms, really they made my day and they really motivated me to get this chapter out a lot faster (aside from the fact i couldn't wait to write this one)**

Bella's POV

I couldn't believe him.

Really? Who the fuck does that?

In the middle of class no less.

Who does he think he is? I was really getting sick of all this extreme bullshit: he was hot one moment...well, extremely hot, and then nothing, ice cold. This was too confusing - even for me. _And_, if anyone was going to be playing games around here, it was going to be me. But I didn't want to play games. In fact, I was _tired_ of playing games. I didn't want confusion. I didn't want anything complicated. I had a feeling that what was going on between Edward and I was neither simple or easy. After this little stunt today in Chem, I don't think I want to even _see_ him any time soon.

I had been excited to see him after this weekend; I couldn't wait to go to school today just so that we could hang out and so that I could see him. I was looking forward to possibly figuring out what exactly had gone on, though I was also a little nervous. Weekend getaways, mixed with liquor, don't exactly spell real feelings... it's more like, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Just sans the Vegas part. So who knew what any of the stuff that went down, down there, actually meant.

But now... Now, he could go fuck himself. Next time I see him drowning in a pool, see if I help. That asshole can drown.

As I proceeded to my charity meeting, I felt my phone go off. I looked down, one missed call and another one was coming in.

I sighed to myself, clicking accept on my Blackberry. "Hi mom," I said, slightly annoyed.

I wasn't really annoyed with her, just annoyed at the situation in general. I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment.

"Hi honey. Did you get my message?" mom said cheerfully.

I looked down at my phone, checking if my phone as blinking - signifying a message. It did.

"Nope, didn't even notice it," I stated.

"Well, it doesn't matter now, since I'm talking with you. I just wanted to let you know that you need to ride home with Rosalie or Jasper tonight, since you rode with Alice this morning. We're having dinner at their house tonight," she explained.

Seriously? This CAN NOT be happening. I needed to find a way out of this... or at least around being there for too long. Of all nights, they decide to choose tonight to do dinner. Fate sure is fucking with me right about now.

"Mom, I can't do it tonight. I've got a lot of homework to do and I'm not even hungry. I was just planning on staying in my room all night studying," I tried to explain.

"This has never worried you before," mom said with a chuckle.

"Well it does now. School's very important," I replied, rather loudly back to her.

School's very important? That's all I could come up with? Yea, like she's going to believe that now.

One of the teachers popped their heads out of the classroom, shushing me, and then went back into his room. I flipped off the door and continued walking.

"Alright, Bella. I understand but this is the only day that works for everyone. Besides, you guys all have the same classes; you can just work on homework before and after dinner, since it's such a big deal," she explained.

"But..." I said in one, last, feudal attempt in getting out of this.

But mom didn't hear it and just cut me off. "I'm sorry honey, but this is the only day. I'll see you there, ok? I'll bring you a change of clothes too," she said and then the phone went dead.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Today was _not_ going my way.

I took my phone out and sent a joint text to Rose and Jasper, hoping that one of them would be able to drive me to their house:

_Can I grab a ride home with you? We're having dinner at your place tonight._

I sent the texts and glanced down at the time. Ten minutes after the bell rang, I was late for the charity meeting.

Fuck! That really seemed to be the word of the day.... or at least the hour.

I rushed down the hall and around the corner to get to our normal meeting room. I paused outside the door, composing myself - there was no reason to go in there all flustered. Really, how would that have looked? I took a deep breath and then headed in the door. I went up to my podium, putting my bag down and placing my only hope of salvation, aka my phone, on the desk next to me.

"Sorry for being late....emergency. Quiet down. Let's start," I said to the small group of girls looking up at me.

They began to shuffle and finish the last bits of their conversations before finally quieting down. Some looked slightly annoyed that I was late, probably because I hated it when others were late, but I was the chair. I could do whatever the hell I wanted - it was my right.... right?

"So what are the updates? Anything on location or people we should approach to be auctioned off?" I asked the group.

"Well, I had an idea of where..." Victoria began.

But I wasn't paying attention. My phone went off and that was the only thing that interested me. I quickly snatched the phone from the desk and put it on the podium so no one could see what I was doing. One new message, my phone announced with its blinking red light. I optimistically hit the open button and waited for the text to come through. It was from Rosalie. She would come through for me...hopefully.

_Sorry babe. I'm going to Em's after cheer, but I'll see you at the house. Ask Jazz or Edward. Ciao!_

Crap. I didn't bother responding to her...there was no need.

I tried to remain calm, very calm - there was no reason to worry.... There was still one other person who could save me. Correction, would save me; he has yet to ever fail me. And he would come through... he better fucking come through. Come on Jasper.

"So, does that sound good, Bella?" Victoria asked, her eyes searching for approval from me.

"Uh huh... that's one way to go," I tell her flatly, knowing that I had heard nothing that she had just said.

This response usually bought me some time to figure out what had just happened. Right now, though, I could care less about what she said and feigning the appearance of being interested. And really, this was all _his_ fault. I had more important matters to worry about than trying to figure out a way to avoid the one who shall not be named. I was chairing _the_ junior charity committee in Forks, and that was actually important. I should have been listening to what Victoria was saying, regardless if I would actually use her idea or not. Instead, though, I have to stress about some asshole and a way to avoid him... I was above this. Or I should at least be able to think about two things at once; that's what normal people can do. And I had to put this whole thing out of my mind and focus, or at least try, in order to bring my attention back to the matter at hand.

"There's gotta be some _other _ideas that will just dazzle me, because right now I'm not impressed," I told the group, which again would buy me sometime.

Everyone grew quiet, like they were trying to figure out what they should say next. As they sat there in silence, I looked down at my phone, willing it to ring. Willing it to give me the proper response - the response I needed Jasper to tell me. But I had this feeling that things were not going to work out the way I wanted them to. That didn't stop me from hoping and trying to will it though.

After a couple minutes, there was still no response from my committee or my phone.

"Ok, why don't you guys break up into groups and discuss what we could do for the event. You know, location, publicity, food...all that stuff," I told them.

They all just sat there looking blankly at me. "Like now!" I told them, in a fairly elevated voice - which prompted them to start moving.

Sometimes they could all be so...slow, for a lack of a better word. Times like these really made me wonder why I even had a committee at all. This event would probably just be me planning every little detail out and having them execute it, and then having to follow up to make sure they did everything I wanted them to do correctly. Really, having a committee was just like being a glorified babysitter, because none of them would be able to do anything correctly, or at least how I wanted them to do things. Amateurs.

I stared back down at my phone, watching it like a hawk. Come on. _Come on blink! _You need to go off right now! Do it, you stupid fucking phone! I felt like flinging this _thing_ into a wall, but that would have achieved nothing because then I would never know the answer to my question. I needed to distract myself, take my thoughts off watching the phone. You know what they say about watching a pot boil or whatever, those old housewife sayings are. I reached for my bag to get my charity binder out, but there was nothing. Double fuck, I left it in Chem. Fantastic. There was no way I was going back there to get it. I'd have to make do without it.

I looked in my bag to see what else had I left in class: some of my books, my notebook with all my homework and lab report, and my planner. Greeeaaat. I'd have to get them after the meeting was over, and hopefully after _he_ had left the lab. I looked down at my phone again, thinking that maybe I had missed something, but no, nothing had come from Jasper yet.

I decided that it would be best to go to each group and listen in to what they were saying - a good distraction mechanism for me. I went to each circle and silently observed the ideas that were being tossed out. I had learned a while ago that it was better to just sit and listen, not saying anything until the end, that way they didn't think I was judging their ideas or berating them. I wandered between the groups, all while clutching to my Blackberry like it was my life preserver. Luckily, this ate up the majority of time in the meeting.

There was only five minutes left in the meeting and I had still not heard from Jasper. I was starting to internally freak out a little bit more. A - thinking that I was going to be stranded at school. Or B - that I was going to have to go home with Ed...._him._ I really didn't know what was worse, probably the later. It wouldn't even be that bad staying here overnight; I could sleep in the teacher's lounge, there's plenty of food, and there are even showers. It's totally doable to stay here and it's much better than the other alternative. I could make it work, in the words of Tim Gunn.

Though, mom and dad would be pretty pissed.

I turned my attention back to the meeting. I really hadn't said much, aside from the occasional "uh huh" and the slight verbal abuse at the beginning. "Well, I heard a lot of good starts and some good ideas," I told them, in an attempt to keep morale up, "At the next meeting I want to hear some concrete ideas on location and how we should organize and handle logistics. Sound good?"

They all seemed to nod their head in agreement. One hand popped up, though.

"What Victoria?" I asked, annoyed.

"Have you given any thought to my idea?" she asked, optimistic.

I didn't want to crush her cheerful, little, bubble, that I hadn't been paying attention to what she had said, so I did one of the things I did best: avoid the question. "I'll consider it, but you should probably just help Maria or Tanya - they have more experience with these things. I'll see you guys next meeting," I told them.

Victoria looked a little dejected, but there was nothing I could do - I'll buy her a latte tomorrow or something to make amends. I had more pressing matters on my mind right now. The room cleared out within a matter of minutes; no one usually liked staying longer than they had to. I gathered, what I had remembered to bring - which was basically a pen, some gum, and a book - and looked to my phone, again.

Nothing.

Zilch.

Damn it.

I picked up the phone to begin calling Jasper when I heard it, someone else in the room. It had to be Jasper coming to my rescue... at least I could at least pretend that it was him, for a couple seconds at least.

I knew who it was. I didn't need to turn around and look towards the door; I could feel the smug, arrogant, vibe he was giving off. Jasper wasn't coming to get me, no, I wasn't that lucky. It just wasn't my day; at this point I resigned to that fact. I turned a little and saw Edward just standing there, leaning against the door frame.

I turned and faced the other door, hoping to escape without being intercepted by him. Unfortunately, he anticipated this and swiftly moved to the other door, blocking my exit. I didn't want to change directions again so I continued towards that door, reaching around him for the doorknob without even glancing up at him. I quickly turned the knob, but nothing. It didn't budge. I turned it again quickly, still nothing. I was definitely losing my cool - I just wanted to get out of this room. I turned it with all my strength one more time, feeling it slightly move, but then nothing again. This stupid door had to be locked.

"Ahem," Edward cleared his throat, "need some help?" he asked with his stupid, fucking smug grin across his face.

I didn't even bother with an answer. I began to walk towards the other door when the door I had been trying to open just flew open with ease.

That stupid asshole. _Of course_ the god damn door opens for him...

"Sometimes the doors stick," he said with a half shrug.

Yea, I'm sure that's what it was... The door stuck for me but it magically opened for him. Whatever. I didn't even say thank you, I just walked out and didn't look back. He had some nerve coming in here right now. I started speed walking down the hall towards Chem; I wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

I had made it halfway down the hall when I heard his smooth voice again. "Don't bother, I picked up your stuff for you," he said loudly.

Of course he got my stuff. What a freakin gentleman...

This caused me to stop and figure out my next move. There was no point going to the Chem lab now, but at the same time I didn't want to turn back and go in the other direction, towards Edward. So I just stood there, pondering what my next move should be.

"Here," he said standing next to me now and holding out my stuff to me.

Well, I guess he made the decision for me.

"I was just trying to be nice," he explained with a half smile.

"Ha!" I stated coldly, grabbing my stuff, walking in the opposite direction.

I continued walking until I was finally outside and sitting on a bench overlooking the football field. There were a couple people out, but people were probably still in the locker room getting ready for practice or had left by this point. I took out my phone and continued with my afore planned call to Jasper to figure out where the fuck he was. I dialed and nothing...went to his voicemail. I just hung up, there was no reason to leave him anything.

"Stranded?" Edward asked from behind me.

I stayed silent. There was no need to answer him, he already knew the answer. Hopefully, if I remained silent long enough he would take the hint and just leave. Though, I had a feeling that would not be the case. But maybe I'd get lucky and a rouge football would impale him in the head or something.

He sat down next to me, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. "I get it. You're mad a me," he said, looking over at me.

I kept my head still and shifted my eyes towards him for a second and then looked down. Well duh I was mad. Annoyed. Disgruntled. Confused. A lot of verbs could fit in the last part of his sentence.

"Come on. Just talk to me," he said.

No. I didn't want to talk to him - although I did enjoy all the effort he was making right now. Most people, after about ten minutes of this, would have probably given up and walked away. I had to give it to him that at least he was persistent. But then again, so was I. He had really pissed me off earlier and I wasn't ready to forgive him....or whatever. I wasn't ready to talk to him yet because, now, his actions only complicated things even more. Again, I had this distinct feeling that I just needed to get away from him, right now. How could I do it?

I sat there for a minute thinking. If I just left right now, he would just follow me. But he would probably do that with whatever I would do. If I went home, though, there would be no way for him to follow - so the trick would be getting home. A cab! That would work. I scrolled through my phonebook, pulling up Yellow Cab's number. I hit call and it began ringing.

I quickly put the phone up to my ear, waiting for the operator to come onto the line. I was in the clear; or so I thought. The operator had just answered and I was about to begin speaking when the phone was yanked from my hand. Edward had taken it from me and was now holding it on the opposite side of his body, away from me. I wasn't expecting that.

"Can I have my phone?" I growled at him.

"Well, at least this got you to speak to me. And no, you cannot have your phone," he said flatly.

I lurched for my phone but he calmly just held it further away. His arms were longer than mine so unless I basically climbed onto him, there was no way that I would be able to get to my phone.

"Give it to me," I whined as I reached again for my phone.

"Nope," he said with a smirk, holding it even further away.

Damn him and his long-ass arms.

"I know your family's having dinner at my house and we need to work on our lab report, so I'll give you the phone once we get home," he explained.

"Well your sadly mistaken if you think I'm fucking getting in the car with you right now," I told him.

"Well, then you aren't getting your phone... and then you're really stranded here," he said getting up and waiting for my response.

This was now my only option: I _had_ to go with him, there was no way of getting around this. This was it, the topper to the end of my crappy day. There was no other choice, I had to spend my ride home and the entire rest of the evening with Edward. Fuck my life right now.

He stood next to me, waiting, and held out his hand to help me up.

I stood up as well, without his assistance and tried to reach for my phone one last time. And, of course, I didn't get it. I pushed his arm out of the way and proceeded to the car without him.

"Fine, phone thief. Let's go," I yelled back to him

*********************************************************

The car ride had been fairly uneventful. Both of us were quiet and kept to ourselves. Generally, in moments like this, I would have played with my phone... Seeing as how that was _not_ an option I tired to take a nap. Or more like faked a nap so that he wouldn't even be tempted to try to speak to me - which actually seemed to work.

"Hey faker, we're here," he said, parking the car.

Damn. How did he know all of these things?

I grabbed my stuff and opened the door. Dad's car was already there. They were early.

"Can I have my phone now?" I asked.

"What do you say?" Edward replied back with a twinkle in his eye.

Why did I have to notice that damn twinkle? God, he could be extremely aggravating!

I rolled my eyes at him. "Can I _please_ have my phone back now?" I said again, trying to stay as calm as possible as we walked into the house.

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" the patronizing fool asked.

I held out my hand as we walked in the door, expecting him to hand over my Blackberry. But he didn't. I shoved my hand further out towards him, in case he didn't see me. So now that it was right in the middle of his chest, almost restraining him from proceeding any further. As if my arm could really stop him from going forward if he really wanted to, but it was worth a shot.

"Calm down grabby. The lab, _you_ abandoned me in, isn't done yet. I'll give you the phone when the homework's done," he said, gentling moving my arm out of the way and continued walking, leaving me in the foyer.

Homework? Since when was he concerned with homework? He's never struck me as the studious type. He really was infuriating. I huffed to myself, stomping into the kitchen after him.

"There you are Bella. We were wondering what was keeping you," mom said, smiling from across the room.

"You know, the usual..." I said, narrowing my eyes at Edward.

"Yea, we have a lab that we need to work on, so we were just discussing that before we came in here," Edward explained.

"When is it due?" Carlisle asked.

"Tomorrow. So, unfortunately, we probably won't be around that much tonight. It's a pretty complicated lab and I wouldn't want to bring Bella's grade down or anything," he said with a smile, looking in my parents general direction.

My parents almost beamed at this comment. He really could be one charming and suave asshole when he wanted to be.

"Well, that sounds good Edward. We understand, schoolwork comes first," dad said.

They were eating this all up. I looked to Esme and Carlisle to see what their reaction was, but they were beaming just as much - though Carlisle did look like he was somewhat amused by everything Edward was saying, though he tried to conceal it.

"Well, get upstairs and crank this out sweetheart. If you start now, hopefully you will be done by dinner and then you two can relax and enjoy the rest of the night," mom said.

I rolled my eyes and silently cursed Edward, there was no getting out of this one. My parents now thought of him as the golden child, probably even more so since the weekend. Damn it.

"Give me like 10 minutes Bella. I just want to take a quick shower and then we can get to work," Edward said.

"Whatever," I said flatly followed by, "asshole" much quieter so only he could here.

"What was that?" he asked, loudly, with a smirk.

I narrowed my eyes again at him and pursed my lips. "Nothing, just go," I ordered him.

He left the room and made his way up the stairs. I could hear his gloating chuckles all the way up the stairs. I turned my attention to back to the others in the room. Mom looked like she was dying to tell me something - she had this weird, kinda crazy eyes, look on her face: the look of her having a secret. She was a good actress, so you would think that she would be capable of concealing a secret well, but that was not the case. You never tell mom anything because she just can't keep it to herself. She didn't do it deliberately, and it wasn't because she wanted the attention or to be hurtful, it just slipped out the majority of the time.

This could only mean that she knew that Esme was pregnant. And this also must mean that Esme was ready to start telling people, because she knew how mom works.

"Guess what?!" mom spit out.

Here it comes...

"Renee..." dad warned, giving her a stern look.

"Alright, alright. Darling, tell her, or I won't be able to hold it back anymore," she told Esme.

Dad and Carlisle both laughed at her comment, but knew there was also truth behind what she said.

Esme looked at me. "Bella, I'm pregnant!" she said with a smile.

I smiled back at her and tried to look shocked, though I wasn't sure how convincing I actually was. I wasn't exactly sure how I was supposed to react... especially since I already knew.

"Congratulations," I said warmly and rushed over to give her a hug.

"Just play along. I know you already knew, I'm sure Edward's already told you, but it'll kill your mother if you knew before her," she whispered to me as we hugged.

Edward? How the hell did she know it was Edward who told me and not Rose or Jasper?

As we released from our hug, I nodded to her, in agreement in our little pact.

"Congrats," I said to Carlisle as I gave him a hug as well.

"And not to be presumptuous or anything, but we'd _**love**_ to be the godparents!" mom said, almost shrieking with excitement.

"Renee!" dad said again.

She was being ridiculous. It was almost as if mom was having the baby with how excited she was.

"Don't worry, that was actually part of the reason we wanted to have dinner with you guys, to ask you that," Carlisle said with a warm smile.

"See!" mom said to dad, sticking her tongue out at him.

Sometimes she acted like she was ten, instead of her actual age, which was somewhere in the late thirties or early forties I believe; she's never actually given me a straight answer when I've asked her about that before. I think she answered the question once, but I was 5, so it didn't really count because I couldn't remember.

"Anyway Bells, I brought you some clothes to change into. Why don't you go upstairs and change and then get to your homework," mom said.

I knew that was coming. I couldn't hide down here until we left, which was what my initial plan was. Edward's charming concerned act took care of that. I got my bag and went up the stairs. I went into the first room I found.

I hadn't been in this room before. It was nice, probably a game room of some sort because there was a pool table, bar, a giant TV, a couple LoveSacs and a couch, and a piano. I wonder who played?

I looked in the bag to see what mom had brought me. It was pretty standard, though, it did seem a little dressy for just dinner - especially since it looked like I was going to be trapped with Edward working on homework all-night. I took off my uniform and put on my jeans. As I bent down to grab the shirt mom brought me a heard a door open. I froze. I immediately looked at the door I had come in from, but that was still closed. Was there another door that led to this room that a missed? There was a cough from behind me. I looked through my legs and saw someone in the doorway behind me. This must be a pleasant picture for them right now: me, bent over, ass out, with no top on - simply gorgeous.

"Hello?" I said with a raised voice, still bent over.

"Hi," Edward said in response.

_Of course_ it would be Edward....who else would it have been.

I immediately stood up, and turned towards him. "Do you have a thing for walking in while I'm half naked or something?" I asked him, irritated.

"No..." he said with a smirk "but this time it's not my fault. You're the one in _my_ room."

I looked around the room, this didn't look like a bedroom. "This can't be your room. There isn't even a bed. So unless you have some deep dark secret, like you're a bat or a vampire or something, you need a bed," I stated.

"Well, I'm no vampire or bat, but this _is_ part of my room. See this door," he said motioning to the doorway next to him now," it connects my room with a bed, to this room, with no bed. But they are both a part of my room" he said, mocking me.

"Alright..." I said, wishing that I had come up with something a little more clever.

"Uh, do you need a shirt or were you just planning on spending the rest of the night in just your bra?" he asked.

"I've got a shirt," I told him, trying to mock him as I pulled on my blouse.

He just laughed, then looked me over. "Aren't you a little dressy?" he asked.

"My mom brought it. It's not like I picked it out and was like, hmm, what should I wear to impress Edward tonight during my imprisoned stay with him," I said.

"Suureee," he said back.

"Let's just get to work, ok? The sooner we finish this shit, the sooner we both can be on our way - which is what we both want anyway, obviously," I said turning my back to him to get my bag with my lab in it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Edward asked, with a slight irritation in his voice.

"Nevermind," I told him.

"No really, if you have something to say, just say it. Let's just put this all out on the table," he said.

He really wanted me to put everything out on the table... HA! Like that was going to happen. I wasn't really in the mood to deal with this right now. After the day I had, which was mostly caused by him, I did not want to discuss my _feelings_ on the subject.

"Just forget it, let's do our work," I said, getting my binder out.

"No, I don't want to forget it," he said, taking my binder.

"Ok, stop taking my stuff. Give it back," I told him.

"I'll give it back once you tell me what's going on," he said.

I was really sick of this first grade bullshit. I wanted my stuff and I wanted it back now. I'd do what I'd have to, to get my stuff back, without submitting to his will. So really there was only one thing left to do... attack.

We both just stood there glaring at each other, unsure of what the other person was going to do. Really, there was no reason for him to be upset; what had I done to him? Absolutely nothing. I moved slightly forward and he moved slightly back, moving my binder further away in the process.

"You don't want to do this," he warned.

"And why not? Scarred I'll win?" I responded, moving a little closer.

And then it was on. I charged directly at him, my binder in sights. I reached out, hoping to grab my binder, but he anticipated this move and switched hands with the binder. I reach across his body with both arms, so that I'm basically straddling him, but he has that fucking reach on me due to his height.

"Give it," I growled at him.

"No," he growled right back.

Before it was just me into this, but now he's just as into keeping the binder at any means. I quickly tried to think what I should do next, something that he wouldn't expect me to do - but he's faster than I am and pushed me off balance, causing me to fall to the ground. He looked to see if I'm alright; the look on his face made me think that he didn't want to do that, which is actually kind of sweet, even though we're in an actual fight right now. Can't think of the sweetness, though, must think of strategy.

As I'm on the floor, and able to see things from a different angle, I saw my next move. I went for his knees. Not anything that would actually hurt him, but something that would just put us back on the same playing field. I reached my leg up and gently kicked forward, causing him to fall, slightly face plant, to the ground. I crawled over to the hand griping the binder and took it. I was victorious! I was the one with the binder, not him. Booya! I stood over him, prepared to gloat, when he popped up and grabbed my legs.

"Too cocky," he explained, latching onto my legs as he stood up and threw me over his shoulders.

I was now dangling upside down and really couldn't do anything to get out. He snatched my binder from my hand, with his free hand - the other still clutched onto me. I tried to reach around his body to grab the binder but there was no way I was going to be able to reach it.

"Give up?" he asked, calmly, though he sounded slightly out of breath.

I remained silent; I was not giving in. But, it was good to know I wasn't the only one who was expending all of my energy right now. I thought for a moment and then started to wiggle. I tried to make my way down from his shoulder and out of his grasp, by wiggling forward, which somewhat worked. He was still holding onto me tightly, but I was no longer slung over his side - I was at his shoulder slightly facing him. Unfortunately, I had not thought this out completely, because as I continued wiggling, he was thrown off balance and we were both slammed to the ground.

We were both still, catching our breath. I could feel my heart pounding, so I'm sure he could feel it too. His heart was doing the same thing, though, so I felt a little better about that - not so wimpy and girly. I looked at him to make sure he was ok, but he was looking in the other direction, so I couldn't really tell. He was still slightly damp from his shower and his hair was still wet. He smelled good. He smelled _really_ good. I needed to get away from him because I didn't need to be thinking these thoughts. He was still holding onto my waist, though, on top of him. This seems to happen a lot between the two of us...

"Are you alright?" he asked, finally letting go of me.

"Yea, I'm fine," I tell him, moving as far away from him as possible. "You?"

"I think so," he said, rubbing his head, but still holding onto the binder.

"Oh, sorry," I said, sheepishly.

"Are you guys alright?" Jasper asked, poking his head in the doorway. "Mom's been calling you guys down to dinner for the last five minutes, but neither of you responded so she asked me to come get you," he further explained.

"We just didn't hear her," Edward explained, continuing to rub his head and walking to the door - still clutching my binder.

"Why are you so dress..." Jasper started.

"Finish that sentence and you will find out why Edward's rubbing his head," I threatened him. "And thanks for responding to my texts..." I said, flicking him on the arm.

The three of us made our way down the stairs and sat for dinner. The majority of the topics centered around the baby, the proud godparents, and the upcoming events for the school year. Since Emmett was there, they discussed football and then lacrosse, but it was mostly baby talk. Rose looked a little tense the whole time, but she stayed silent. Dinner had been surprisingly quick, much to my chagrin. I hoped it would have taken longer, delaying my trip back upstairs with the UFC wrestler over there, but that was a no go. Jasper had to leave to finish up his "lab" with Alice and Rose and Emmett were just going to hang out downstairs with the parentals.

"Ok, back to work you two," dad said with a wink to Edward.

A wink? Who did he think he was? Come on dad - he must have thought he was being soo cool.

Edward brightly walked upstairs while I trudged, mouthing to Em and Rosalie to "save me". They just laughed at me instead. I knew I should have taken physics; something, anything, instead of Chem. I walked into the room and found Edward calmly sitting down waiting for me.

"Here," he said holding out my binder, "a peace offering."

"What no fight till the death this time around?" I asked, sarcastically.

He just rubbed his head and continued to hold out my binder.

I looked at him wearily, but he simply nodded. I quickly snatched my binder away, "Thanks. Can I get my phone back then too? I asked.

He shook his head, "Not yet. You aren't going to attack me now are you?" he joked.

Well, I couldn't blame him for asking. It wasn't like I could entirely blame him for the throw down earlier, I was partly to blame.... well, maybe more than partly.

"No, you don't need to worry," I said with a small laugh.

"Good. So you're not mad at me anymore then?" he asked with a hopeful look on his face.

I stayed silent.

"Alright, so you are still mad; that's warranted. Well I'm sorry, for earlier.... well for everything," he said, sounding sincere.

I was completely taken aback - I wasn't expecting that. I was pretty sure that my mouth was hanging open at this moment. But it didn't matter that he said sorry, you can say sorry for a lot of things, but not actually mean it.

"Alright," I said, trying to figure out what his angle was by saying this.

"No really. I'm sorry about earlier, I wasn't trying to act like a..." he began.

"Douche?" I blurted out, not thinking.

He winced a little at that. "A little harsh, but true," he said in agreement.

At least he was willing to admit it; that's the first step to rehabilitation. But there still had to be some sort of angle with this. I just wasn't sure yet what it was exactly.

"Fine, I'll play along. So what happened with the 180 in Chem? What the hell happened to you?" I asked, genuinely curious.

Edward was silent then. It didn't look like he was trying to figure out his next move, but just that he wanted to choose his words carefully. There were many times when he looked like he was about to say something, but then just shut his mouth again. I just sat there watching him as he looked down at the ground; I was trying to figure him out.

Then he looked up at me with those green eyes of his. Not in my general direction, or looking through me - like a lot of people do when they are lying, but he looked into my eyes. It was as if he was trying to convince me of the sentiments behind his words.

"I was being careful," he said slowly.

"Careful? Careful of what?" I asked, holding his gaze.

He paused again, but did not look away like he had last time. "I was being careful of other people watching us," he explained.

I was lost; I must have missed something. "Why would people have been watching us? We were just in Chem, it was really no big deal. It did not warrant you acting like a total ass to me for the majority of class and then fucking flipping out at the end. Seriously, what the hell was that?" I asked, sensing that the pitch of my voice was rising, as was the tempo of my speech.

I couldn't help it. I didn't want to come off like that bothered me, that he had gotten under my skin, but it somehow just came out.

He looked away, almost embarrassed. "I know. I fucked up and I'm sorry. I really didn't want to act that way," he tried to explain.

"Well, you know, you _can_ control the way you act. If you don't want to be an ass, you don't have to act like one," I told him, feeling more of the emotions I had been burying all day, and probably since we had initially met, coming up.

"I know. _I know_," he said with frustration in his voice, which was not directed at me, but at himself. "Do you think that I _enjoyed_ being that way to you?"

I sunk back on the couch, crossing my arms in front of me. "I don't know. I really don't. The way you act around me varies day to day. Hell, it varies minute to minute," I stated, feeling more of these mixed emotions coming up.

At the moment I wasn't sure what I felt for him; if I was mad, sad, happy, confused... right now it was all just a big cluster fuck.

"Well I don't. I don't _want_ to hurt you," he explained, "that's the last thing I want to do" he said much quieter.

This piqued my interest. Was he actually interested in me? Was the whole LA whirlwind legit and he had feelings for me? This, potentially, could be huge.

"What was that last part again?" I asked.

He had said it quiet enough that if I wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying, I probably would have missed it - but I didn't. I was watching every move he made, every little twitch and change in his breathing. I was studying him, so there was no way in hell I had missed the last part of the sentence.

"Hmm?" he said, trying to play dumb.

"Don't you 'hmm' me. I know what you said - now explain," I demanded.

I could feel my emotions getting the best of me, but I couldn't do anything to stop it. I wanted answers. I deserved answers. And now was the time I was going to get them. No getting out of it this time and he knew it.

He moved to the other side of the couch so now we were sitting opposite each other. "You know what I said, there's no need to repeat it," he said calmly.

I nodded my head once in agreement. "Alright, then explain yourself. You owe me that, at least," I told him.

He nodded too. "You do deserve that. You deserve the truth," he said pausing.

But this wasn't a pause to take a breath, this was just a pause. No deep breath, no cough, no sneeze, not even a hiccup.

He paused? What the fuck? Was he going for dramatic effect or something? Just spit it out! Right now, I really wanted to smother him with one of these gigantic bean bag chairs.

"Alright... I agree. Proceed," I urged him, moving a little closer to the middle of the couch.

I thought that showed a sign of solidarity, or something like that.

He noticed it, too, and scooted forward a little bit as well.

"Ok. So the motivating force behind my actions today were caution, as I said earlier. I wanted to be cautious so that people wouldn't pick up on anything that was going on. I didn't know, don't know, what's going on between the two of us and I didn't want other people to make any assumptions. I tried to distance myself from you, be more like the way we were when we first met and before the trip to LA, so not to make people suspicious. But, being around you.... things just don't go as planned," he explained, scooting a little closer to me.

"Things change when I'm around you: it's like I can't control or help myself, I just need to be near you. And I need to get a better grasp of that. And that was what you saw in Chem, the fight that was going on internally with me: the need to be close to you dueling the side that wants to keep whatever that is going on with us strictly between us, so that I don't have to share you," he further explained, again moving closer.

This was a bit too much to handle. He was putting himself out there, being completely uninhibited with me and I didn't know how to handle it. All the emotions that had been bottled up for months with me were now coming to the surface and I didn't know how to deal with them because it was such a rush. Through the process of this conversation it had finally come to me that I wanted him. All of him. I wanted the good and the bad, the temper and the sincerity. I wanted it all. I was beginning to fall for Edward Cullen, and I had since the first day that we saw each other at Alice's party, but it had just hit me now. All the emotions that people usually gradually work up to, all just hit me like a bus and I didn't know how to react to this. The only thing I could do was move closer to him.

" That's what's I've been working through; finding a way to balance the emotions I've been dealing with. At first I didn't even think I had them, but gradually it just came to me. And this has been difficult for me. For instance now, it's just hard sitting on this side of the couch, away from you. I know I must have seemed like some crazy asshole, and I probably have been, but I really didn't mean to be. And that's everything," he said with a shrug and a small smile, concluding his explanation.

I knew he was waiting for me to respond to everything he said, but I was still processing it all. I mean, how do you react to something like that?

"Did you just come to this conclusion last night after all the... _stuff_ that happened on the trip?" I asked, quietly and looking down; I was kinda scarred that it was just because we had kissed in LA that he was feeling like this now.

He reached over and held the bottom of my chin, tilting my face up so that I could look at his. "I think I knew it all along, but I didn't want to admit it to myself. LA just got things moving a little faster and then it was like, bam, I don't want to be apart from this girl," he said quietly.

I knew my mouth must have grown into the biggest, widest, smile I possibly could have made because my cheeks started to hurt after a little while, but I couldn't get rid of that damn smile.

"So what exactly does this mean? I know you're smiling but.." he said, still a little hesitant.

I couldn't think of a response to rival that, and I really didn't want to talk anymore. I felt the same way that he did; I didn't want to be apart from him and I didn't want to share him with anyone else either, I completely understood what he was saying. I just wanted him and I could think of no better way than to show him.

Therefore, I leaned over and kissed him; what better answer/response could there be than that? And this wasn't a measly peck, this kiss started slow and then intensified. Intensifying to the point where I was laying on top of him and it was becoming increasingly difficult to breath due to the sheer intensity of the kiss.

I finally had to pull away so that I could breath. "So... I... I think that answers your question, no?" I joked.

He pursed his lips. "Well... I think I may need a little more convincing ..." he laughed.

"Oh do you?" I asked, giving him a quick, well somewhat quick, peck and then laying down against his chest. "So did you think this was how the night was going to go?" I asked.

"This was by far better than expected. I mean, we even wrestled. Does it get any better than that?" he joked.

"Nope, that will probably be the high point in your life, wrestling with me. I'm kind of a big deal, if you couldn't tell," I told him with a laugh. "So where does this leave us?" I ask him.

"Do you really need me to say it?" he asked, playing with my hair.

"Nope," I said smiling to myself, knowing that there is no other person I wanted to be with.

"I think you made a good point, though, we should try to keep this to ourselves. It's not anybody else's business what's going on with us," I said, turning so that now we were looking at each other. "Besides, its kinda hot being all secretive," I explained with a mischievous smile creeping across my lips.

"Oh really?" he said, arching an eyebrow and the pushing up to kiss me.

"Oh yea, didn't you know?" I answered back, while still kissing.

He leaned back down and I turned my head, again resting on his chest as he squeezed me a little tighter to him. "You learn something new every day," he stated.

"Bella, time to go," dad called from down stairs.

I frowned a little. Who knew that I would be the one who wanted to stay longer at the Cullen's? I looked at the clock, it was almost 11:30 and we hadn't done any of the lab. More important matters were discussed tonight anyway than chemical bonding.

"I'll get the lab from Jazz tonight and you can copy it in the morning," Edward told me as we stood up.

"That sounds good," I said beaming.

He reached into his pocket and took out my phone, finally giving it back to me. "Thank you," I told him, wrapping my arms around his neck and giving him a kiss.

I grabbed my stuff and we began to go down the stairs. I kissed him one last time before we'd have to separate for the rest of the night.

"Oh. One more thing. So, after all of this can I get your phone number now?" he asked me.

I rolled my eyes, pretending to be annoyed. "I suppose... if you must."

**soo? what did you think? **

**did you like it? hate it? need more drama for ya? **

** let me know, i'd LOVE to hear what you guys think of the chapter!! hint, hint ;)**


	20. Secret Santa

**hello everyone! BIG apologies for taking so long to update, i just had MASSIVE writer's block. no idea what's going on with me, but it just took me forever to finally finish this chapter. its a long one, so hopefully that will make up for the delay though. :)**

**thank you for everyone who has commented and reviewed, seriously i appreciate it and LOVE LOVE LOVE (!) hearing from you guys.**

**another HUGE thank you to ****AmandaCullen84 who helped beta this chapter too and helping me fight my writers block - thanks for all the suggestions and inspiration!**

**again - i don't own twilight, that's all smeyer**

**EDIT: something happened with ff... the chapter got deleted or something, so i put it back up, no worries. **

**with no further adieu, here is the chapter.**

EPOV

3 1/2 weeks. 3 weeks and four days to be exact, but who was counting? By the time Christmas rolled around it would be a month. And it's been a great run thus far, in fact it had basically been perfect - aside from all the hiding. These weeks had been filled with hidden kisses, stolen glances and secret rendezvous. I wasn't sure how much longer this would last. People had begun to get suspicious; especially our little inner circle. It didn't really matter what they thought, though, because Bella and I were not ready to tell them. The hiding had been fun and exciting at first, but now it was starting to get a little exhausting, which was another reason that I didn't think our secret romance would stay much of a secret too much longer.

We thought that we had made it over the hump with Thanksgiving and everything, but we kinda forgot about Christmas and New Years. At first it wasn't a problem, Bella was supposed to be going to LA for the holidays, but with Esme's pregnancy and the fact that Mike wanted to show James a "white Christmas", their plans had changed. You would think that having winter break and no school would make sneaking around easier, due to all the free time, but my dear family and friends had basically scheduled all my days that they even penciled in when I was supposed to go to the bathroom. Between family stuff and everything that Alice had planned, I was barely going to have _any_alone time with Bella. Though Esme's pregnancy was making it easier to see each other because Renee was always over at our house and vice versa, giving Bella and I plausible excuses to see each other and hang out. Although I had a feeling that both our moms knew something was going on between the two of us...

"Hello! Earth to Edward! Get out of the car," Rosalie shouted banging on my window.

I guess I had spaced out driving to school. That had been happening a lot recently, probably because that was the alone time that I really had, even though I wasn't _really_ alone.

I blankly looked up at Rose, uncertain of how long I had just been sitting in the car, by myself.

"I was about to leave your ass," she said thrusting the door open. "But unlike everyone else, _I'm_ the nice one," she said loudly and through a fake and forced smile.

I looked around and then behind her. She was right, everyone else, who had been standing next to the car when we arrived, had now ditched me - including Bella - some girlfriend she was. But that wasn't that big of a surprise, things really hadn't changed that much between the two of us... in public anyway.

Rose sat there tapping her foot and staring down at her nails.

"Alright, alright, I'm getting out of the car," I said, getting out, "and watch the fingerprints."

She rolled her eyes and walked towards the rest of our group mumbling something about my precious Vanquish and needing to get over myself. But she would have acted the same way, in fact, she does act the same way if not worse. All of us tended to have a thing about our cars in this family, but this time it was actually legitimate. This car was my baby - it was my mom's and really the only tangible thing I have left of her. She died when I was eight, so I didn't have that much time with her. Some of the best times I had with her were in this car and dad knew this; which is why when I was finally old enough, and not a fucking moron behind the wheel, he gave me her car. It was probably my most prized possession. I treated it like my actual child.

"Come on you jack ass, you're holding everyone else up," Bella yelled at me, slightly irritated.

She really hated it when I made her wait; which prompted me to do it even more. She was adorable when she was mad. She got all frustrated, red and slightly out of breath because she was trying to remain calm by taking a lot of small breaths. I knew the fact that I knew this made me a tad bit stalkery, but I tried to excuse this behavior by saying all good boyfriends knew these things. Though, I was pretty sure Em didn't have a fucking clue about the same things I did - but this theory rationalized things in my mind, which was the only thing that mattered.

I sauntered over to the rest of the group - the girls definitely looked more annoyed than Emmett and Jasper, but that wasn't a big surprise. In fact Jazz and Em didn't even look like they cared that I had made them wait.

"Finally, we're gonna be late," Alice said in a huff.

"Whatever," I said, rolling my eyes, "if we're late can't you just excuse us saying we were on 'official ASB duties',' finishing my sentence with air quotes.

"I'm not supposed to abuse my power, Edward," she explained.

"But yesterday you gave Em a pass cause he was too high to get to class on time," I stated.

"Erroneous," she responded back.

"Ya kinda did," Emmet said, siding with me.

"Ha!" I exclaimed.

All three girls shot him death stares as soon as the comment escaped his mouth, which caused him to begin to walk off to class in a hurry.

"Well, see who helps you out next time then," Alice yelled as she followed him towards the school entrance. "You should just be glad this is the last day before break!"

Rosalie and Jasper followed after Alice, in order to make sure nothing too inappropriate was said too loud, which is what generally happened when Alice got a little heated. That was how Lauren Mallory got expelled last year. Alice was upset that she kept taking her parking space and in a heated fit Alice had "inadvertently" yelled that Lauren had slept with Mr. Banner, multiple times, in front of the principal's office, which also happened to be Banner's wife's office. This got Lauren expelled, Mr. Banner fired, and divorced from his wife, as well as basically exiled from Forks and the teaching profession. Though Alice _probably_ wouldn't say anything like that now...

"Thanks for ditching me," I said sarcastically to Bella, with a slight smile.

"You made me wait. I wait for no one. You wait for me," she said, stomping her foot.

"Did you just stomp your foot? People actually do that in real life? Do you think you're in Mean Girls or some other teen movie?" I teased.

She just glared back at me.

I smiled back at her.

"Oh don't try to pull that cute smile crap on me. It's not going to work," she said bluntly.

"Well at least you called me cute. I'll take that," I said with a laugh, and smiling wider.

"Yes, you are cute," she said softly, almost in a whisper. "But you can also be a gigantic fucking ass hole," she said much, much louder, walking away from me.

"That's true as well," I called after her, just standing there.

"Well, I'm glad we agree then," she said quickly turning around and finally smiling back at me, before she disappeared into the building.

I looked around the entryway, realizing that Bella had been one of the last people to enter the hallway. I was now the only asshole standing outside of the school like an idiot, while everyone else had rushed into their classrooms. It was the last day of school before break and everyone seemed to want to get the day over with as quickly as possible. I began walking into the building when Embry rushed in ahead of me, giving me a strange look in the process.

"Cullen," Embry said with a nod, continuing to stare me down until he was finally in the building.

That was odd.

Yea, I had a feeling that Bella and I weren't going to be able to keep this a secret much longer.

***************************************************************

"Freedom!" Emmett shouted. "I think a celebration is in order," he continued, taking out a small baggie filled with his drug du jour - which I thought was coke at the moment.

He changed it so frequently it was really hard to keep up.

"Put that away! Mom might over hear you," Rosalie ordered.

"Does pregnancy give her super human hearing or somethin'? Cause last we saw she was checkin' on something in the garden, which would make it fairly difficult to hear...." Em teased her.

"Just watch it," she said, whacking him in the process and taking his stash.

"Ooh! You know I like it rough," Emmett joked.

"_Duuuude_," Jasper said while Bella exclaimed "Too much information! Too much information;" both at the same time.

"You mean you..." Em started.

But Alice stopped him, forcefully cupping her hand over his mouth. "Believe me when I say that _none_ of us are interested in what's about to come out of your mouth. Understand?" she asked.

Alice kept her hand on top of his mouth until he finally nodded his head in agreement, caving to her demand.

"Thanks for steppin' in babe," Emmett commented to Rosalie.

"No problem," she said, disinterested. "So what are we doing for presents?" she asked more enthusiastically.

Jazz, Emmett, and I all glanced at each other and thought the same thing... presents?

"I was thinking of doing something different, like a gift exchange...." Alice started.

"Fuck that," Bella said immediately, cutting her off.

I had to stop myself from laughing because I knew she was going to act this way. Alice had floated the idea around before and Bella would not hear of it. I also knew this because Bella loved presents; any little thing you called a present she would get excited over - even a piece of gum, which was quite endearing. I smiled to myself pleased that I was figuring out Bella more and more.

"Materialistic much?" Rose commented, smugly.

"HA! I'm the materialistic one? Who brought up presents in the first place?" Bella shot back at her.

Rosalie's smugness dropped.

"Ok, ok. Ladies, chill out. You're both equally materialistic - how's that?" Em said, offering a compromise.

Both girls hit him at the same time. Sometimes Emmett could be such an idiot.

"Well.." Jasper said trying to draw the heat away from Emmett and distract the girls.

Jazz, always the peacemaker; within our group, anyway.

"I think the gift exchange is a fantastic idea," Jazz said, concluding his thought.

"I concur," I agreed.

"Let's put this to a vote," Alice suggested with a smirk, knowing fully that she was about to get what she wanted. "Those in favor..." she said.

Emmett and Jasper's hands both shot up. Alice raised her little arm as well. And now it was down to me. Bella warmly glanced at me, in an attempt to sway my vote - which would have worked, if we weren't with everyone else. Actually, if we were by ourselves, I'm sure it would have worked, with the way she was looking at me. She was trying to secretly be seductive in a room with everyone else, which was hot, but we weren't by ourselves, so I had to stand my ground. I wanted to side with her, show solidarity and all that, but I really didn't want to have to get gifts for everyone.

She kept looking at me but slowly came to realize that I wasn't going to side with her, turning her warm and seductive brown eyes into a harsh glare, almost daring me to raise my hand. I cast my eyes down. She instinctively knew what that meant. I raised my hand, solidifying the vote. I was probably going to pay for this later. In fact I was sure of it, but I had to be my own person - it's not like she owned me....

"Sorry guys," Alice said looking over at Rose and Bella, "Four to two."

"Uh huh," Bella sighed, crossing her arms and leaning back in an exasperated huff - clearly upset that she didn't get her way.

"Well, let's pull names then," Alice suggested, pulling out a little, black, velvet pouch.

"I see you really had _no_ idea of how this was going to go," Rosalie stated.

"It's not like I'm psychic or anything, but let's just say I had a hunch things were going to go this way," Alice said with a knowing smirk.

"Bella, why don't you go first?" I suggested, trying to make amends.

"Thanks, but I don't really give a shit," Bella fired back, her comment clearly directed at me.

"Temper, temper," Emmett teased. "Just because you didn't get your way doesn't mean you should get all testy," he finished.

She didn't even bother responding; she just flipped him off instead.

"Careful, she might just start throwing things. Don't you remember the Pictionary incident," Alice added.

"Hey! That plate slipped," Bella said, defending herself.

"That's why it came crashing into the wall directly next to Emmett's head?" Alice answered her back. "She's got quite the temper - especially when she doesn't get her way," she said to the rest of us.

Emmett nodded his head in agreement.

"I'll go first," Jasper said, changing the topic and pulling a little sheet of paper out of the velvet bag.

He took the name and then handed the bag to Alice, who passed it to Rosalie and then to Emmett. He didn't even bother looking at Bella, knowing that she was still sulking over her defeat and tossed me the bag. Once I had chosen, I placed the bag next to Bella so that she could take her slip of paper when she was ready. She refused to even glance down at it, let alone look into the bag to make sure all the names worked out.

"Well, I'm hungry. Let's get some grub," Em suggested.

The rest of the group seemed to agree and go up to go to the kitchen.

"Come on Edward, don't even bother - just let her sulk. And Bells, stop being such a whiney bitch; just get your name from the bag and then come downstairs and join us," Alice ordered her before she finally left the game room as well.

I looked at Bella to see how this was going to go down, but she refused to even look at me. She was definitely mad; I guess the whole getting what she wants thing wasn't an exaggeration. I wasn't exactly sure where to go from here; I needed to tread lightly.

"So, you want to go downstairs with everyone else?" I asked her.

She calmly looked at me, but didn't respond. She glanced behind me, probably to the clock, and then back to me.

"I've gotta go," Bella stated, getting up.

I didn't remember her saying anything about having plans today.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

She paused, probably considering if she was going to answer my question or not. "Picking up Mike and James at the airport," she said coolly.

"Oh," I said, scanning all the recent conversations we had, had recently to see if this was true or if this was just some excuse to leave.

"Do you _really_ need to pick them up or are you..." I started.

"Do you really want to finish that sentence?" she warned.

I ran a hand through my hair. "Guess not," I answered back.

We both sat there silent for a moment, thinking about what we were both going to do next.

"Is this all because..." I tried to start again.

"_And_, next time," she said, cutting me off and leaning closer to me.

Here we go.

"It might be prudent to side with your _girlfriend_ in all future group decisions. But of course that's just _my_ opinion; you know your _girlfriend_," Bella continued, in an agitated and rambling rant.

I opened my mouth and knew I was about to say the wrong thing, something that I would probably regret later, but I couldn't stop myself. Why? Because I was an idiot with a big mouth, who brought these things on himself.

"So I should have just sided with you, regardless if I actually agreed with you or not?" I asked.

I shouldn't have asked this - I already knew the answer. Yes, of course I should have just agreed with her, but as I said before - idiot.

"Yes," she answered back matter-of-factly.

"So, apparently my opinion doesn't count then? And let's say that I did do this, would you do the same?"  
I asked her, my tone raising.

I was now getting upset over the whole issue as well. I couldn't help it; Bella just knew how to push all my right buttons to get me agitated, from her glaring to her stubbornness and self assurance that she was always right, even if she really wasn't. It was so fucking aggravating.

"Would you agree with me and side with me, even if you didn't agree with it?" I pressed her, moving closer to her as well.

I waited for her response, but she remained silent for just a little too long.

"Typical! Double standard! You expect me to side with you while you wouldn't do the same thing? Fuck that" I told her.

I couldn't tell what she was thinking but I knew she was definitely mad. Her body was taut, which is what normally happened when she was really mad. She narrowed her eyes and glared at me with a clenched jaw, as if she was trying to restrain herself from saying something to me. She reached down and snatched the velvet bag that held her person and proceeded to storm out.

I reached out for her hand to stop her, so that we could at least settle this but she just brushed my arm away. She was about to leave without even saying goodbye. She must have been really mad. And my own stubbornness did not help the situation; I also had a thing about being right.

"Can you call me later, after you pick them up?" I asked her.

If she called me, it would signify that she had calmed down enough to discuss this rationally and I wouldn't be bugging her, because I wasn't really in the mood to be hung up on a bunch of times when this wasn't my fault. Well, when it wasn't _really_ my fault.

This caused her to pause in the hallway and backtrack to the doorway of the game room.

"I can," she answered slowly.

She was being facetious, how cute.

I groaned softly to myself, which she seemed to pick up on and smirked at my annoyance. "I know you can, but _will_ you," I stated, clarifying my previous statement.

She let out a snort like laugh and turned, simply flipping me off. Then she was gone. I guess that was my answer.

That had gone well. Very well indeed - a great start to winter break. If this was any indication of how the rest of break was going to go, I was in for a bumpy road.

*******************************************************

Two days and I had yet to hear anything from Bella. Not a phone call. Not a disgruntled text. Not an invitation to go get lunch with her and everyone else. Not anything. Of course, my stubborn ass had yet to try and make contact either. I tried justifying it in my mind that this was all her fault and that she should be the one to call me, but I knew that I was partly to blame as well. I also knew that in girl world, the guy always should make the first conciliatory efforts, even if they aren't the wrong ones. But there was no way I was going to cave in first initially - even though it took all of my will power and restraint not to call her five minutes after she left. There's a word for guys like that, needing to call their girl friend and have everything be alright.

What's that word again?

Oh yea, pussy.

Apparently, I've turned into a woman.

Regardless of what I had or had not turned into, though, I really did miss Bella. I wanted to see her; or at least talk to her. I missed the sound of her voice, the smell of her hair, and even her fucking sarcastic quips, which were usually directed towards me. For the time being, there was no way talking to her would be an option. I was on a quest to find Christmas presents with Esme and Alice - and there was no way that Alice would let me focus on anything other than shopping.

Rose and Jasper were supposed to come as well, but they both came down with some cold/flu thing at the same time. Some weird twin thing; they always got sick at the same time. Dad didn't really want them around Esme too much because he didn't want her to catch the flu while she was pregnant, so they decided to stay home and recuperate. Emmett chose to keep them company, well decided to keep Rose company, Jazz was just an added extra, which was good for Em because he'd been around Rosalie when she was sick before. When she was sick, Rose turned into the biggest bitch on the planet - more so than usual, unless you were taking care of her. So when this happened Emmett could just retreat into Jasper's room and "pretend" like he didn't hear any of her bitching and moaning.

So that just left Alice; and I had never known her to ever reject an offer to go shopping. I was sure Bella knew that a shopping excursion was going on today, but had become "unexpectedly busy with family stuff", which was the excuse she's used all week long when we had all gotten together. I found this out via Emmett, who she would use as her messenger pigeon. It wasn't like she was _avoiding_ me or anything.

"Edward? Where do you want to go first?" Alice asked, absentmindedly.

I knew she didn't really give a rats ass where I wanted to go. She was already planning the route she wanted to take. She had already formed the checklist in her head and was probably asking to make sure the places I wanted to go were already accounted for.

"Whatever you want to go is fine with me Alice," I told her.

She just nodded, anticipating that this was probably going to be my answer.

And then she was off.

In no time Alice was yards in front and already heading into a store. For such a small person, she sure could walk fast when she wants to. And in stilettos no less.

"I forgot that she's kind of like that roadrunner in those cartoons whenever she goes shopping," Esme said with a laugh.

I nodded my head in agreement. "She is going a wee bit fast. I can get her...err, try to get her to slow down," I said.

"No, really, its fine," she said with a smile. "The baby's just slowing me down a little. I should have gotten one of those Segway things - at least it would clear the holiday traffic around us; give us a shopping parameter," she laughed again and touching her stomach affectionately.

"Well that makes it easy. Now I know what to get you for Christmas," I joked, linking arms with Esme to guide her along.

I may be a lot of things, but a dick to my pregnant step-mom is not one of them. I did whatever was necessary to help her out when she needed it; and at the moment, she needed assistance maneuvering through the insanity of holiday shoppers.

We made it into the entryway of Neimans, where Alice was waiting for us.

"I'm so sorry Esme. I didn't mean to just take off and leave you behind... I guess I just got a little too into the shopping zone. I'll slow down," Alice explained.

Both Esme and I gave her a look.

"Well, I'll at least try," Alice said.

"It's really alright. I expected this; I had an extra session of prenatal yoga this week for the extra endurance," Esme semi-joked.

She actually had, had extra sessions, probably for that exact reason, but she would never admit that to us.

"So where should we start first? Who do you guys need to get things for?" Esme asked.

"I'm already done. I've been through for weeks now," Alice stated, smugly.

Like that was really a surprise. Alice had probably finished her Christmas shopping over the summer. _And_ had probably gotten everyone things they wanted, which was a feat in this town, since anyone could have whatever they wanted at the drop of a hat.

"Why am I not surprised," Esme said with a smile.

Alice smiled back at her, pleased with Esme's compliment. If anyone else had said that Alice probably would have said some sort of backhanded compliment right back, but with Esme, it was actually genuine. Everything Esme said was genuine; she was one the most warm-hearted people I knew - aside from my mother.

"Well I've still got to do some shopping, and I'm sure Edward does," Esme stated.

I smiled sheepishly at them. I had done absolutely nothing.

"Ok, so we'll focus on you guys then," Alice said, brightly. "Well, probably more on you Edward; you'll need the help."

"I'll do fine on my own, thank you very much," I said with a nod.

"Well, did you get your secret Santa present yet," Alice asked.

I pursed my lips. "And by get you mean...." I began to say.

"You should take that as a no," Esme said with a laugh.

"Well, do you need help with that?" Alice said quickly, her eyes were glistening with excitement that I might have pulled her name.

"Uh, Uh, Uh," I told her, waving a finger at her. "That would be cheating. I'm not telling you who I have cause your little scheming mind will figure out who has who," I told her.

"What makes you so sure that I haven't _already_ figured it out?" she asked.

"Cause your eyes wouldn't have lit up when you asked if I needed help. I'm going to go with you have no idea who actually has you and that's driving you crazy. Am I right, or am I right?" I stated confidently.

She just crossed her arms and said nothing.

"Well, you can help me with one thing," I stated.

"And that would be?" Alice said, eying me suspiciously.

"I need to get Rosalie a present," I began.

"So she's your..." Alice said, a bit confused.

"No, she's not but I'm getting both her and Jasper something. And I've already gotten something in mind for him. So, if you could figure something out for her, I would be much appreciative," I said with a smile.

"I'm on it. But what are you getting Jasper?" she asked wearily.

"Why does that matter?" I asked, trying to refrain a laugh.

Last year, our presents to each other was skydiving which turned into something more for Jazz when he met the two hot, female, skydiving instructors who helped him officially join the mile high club. And by Alice's comment, I was sure that she knew _all_ about what had happened.

"It doesn't I guess... I just don't want to get them the same thing," Alice said, trying to cover.

"Well, unless you know something about my son that I don't, I don't think you'll have to worry about getting them the same thing," Esme stated.

"Yea, that's a good point," Alice said slowly with a nod. "I'll be back in a bit. You guys go shop. And you," she said, looking directly at me, "get me something good!"

"Happy hunting!" Alice said, handing me a piece of paper and then she was gone, disappearing into the mass of people.

How did that munchkin know I had her? Really, it wasn't that surprising that she knew who had her - she probably rigged it so that I got her. At least she wasn't difficult, as long as you got her something from the "Alice approved present list" - which is what she handed me and she knew I would get her something; with the others it was really a tossup, which was probably why she wanted me to get her.

"I'm assuming she's right?" Esme asked.

"Do you really need to ask?" I answered back

She just shook her head.

We wandered through the different departments browsing. On occasion something would catch Esme's eye and I would grab it for her so that she wouldn't have to carry it.

"So what are you getting Jasper?" she asked, holding up a cashmere sweater to me, and then adding it to her little pile, which was not so little anymore.

"I thought I would do a trip to Mexico. Just for the boys. So it's really a joint present for Emmett and Jasper," I explained.

"Well, that sounds nice, although I'm not sure how the girls will feel when they hear you all will be off to a crazy weekend in Mexico and they aren't invited," Esme said browsing the rounder.

"That's where you come into play... I thought that we wouldn't tell them," I answered back, spraying myself with some new cologne.

Damn, that was awful; should have smelled it _before_ I sprayed it on me.

Esme raised an eyebrow. "Sureeee... None of the girls are going to find out. Have you met Emmett, the I-can't-keep-a-secret-if-my-life-depended-on-it McCarty? They'll find out. Females always find out - keep that in mind Edward," she said, giving me a very mom-knows-all look.

She was right. The girls _would _find out and they _would_ be pissed that they weren't invited, but we've got to have some man time. Some time to ourselves were we can be men and do all the manly stuff that we can't do around the girls, like grunt, burp, tell ridiculously offensive jokes, and watch porn. I mean the girls do spa days and we aren't invited - so it's the same type of thing.

"I'll deal with the girls when the time comes," I told her, uncertain of how exactly I was going to do that.

"Alright..." she answered back, giving me a reassuming pat on my shoulder and then reaching for my arm to smell what I sprayed.

She inhaled and then scrunched her face. "No no. That is awful," she stated, pushing my arm as far away as possible and handing me tissues to try wipe off the cologne.

"So you are getting something for Jasper, Rosalie, Alice and Emmett... aren't you leaving someone out?" Esme asked me, eyeing me curiously.

Shit. Think quickly....

"Well, we're doing the gift exchange, so I'm just getting something for Alice because of that. Jasper and Rose are family, so they don't really count. And I'm just including Emmett because it's a boys weekend," I tried explaining.

"I see. But this just seems a little... deliberate. What about Bella? You wouldn't want her to get the wrong idea, right?" she said, again with a hint of something more in her tone.

It was a loaded question. There was no avoiding this. She knew it. I knew it.

"I don't know. I haven't really thought about what she would think or what I would get her, if I were to get her something," I told her, ducking behind a row of clothes, trying to, literally, avoid answering the question.

The truth was I had been thinking about it, well, more like obsessing about it, and I had yet to come up with anything that didn't look or seem fucking lame or cliché. It was really starting to stress me out, because I was running out of time. The Christmas Eve party was in two days.

"You don't know....?" Esme said peaking over the clothes, so that I could just see her eyes and the top of her head.

I swear I could hear a smirk in her tone even though I couldn't see it. She knew something was going on. She had to know, by the way she was acting - she just wanted me to admit it on my own.

"I'll figure something out," I said, coming out from behind the rack of clothes, but being sure to look somewhere other than her eyes.

If I looked directly at her, it would be game over. Gig up. Evading her gaze, her pregnant, all-knowing, mothery gaze, could not confirm her completely correct suspicions.

"I'm sure you will dear," she answered back, moving a towards me and giving me a smile.

"All done!" Alice said popping up out of nowhere and holding a medium sized bag out to me. "Err... what smells like beets, I think I might be nauseous," she asked, holding her nose.

Esme laughed, motioning in my direction to Alice as they both sped up, leaving me behind.

************************************************************

"Merry Christmas all," Charlie said as he walked in the door, holding some very large bags filled to the brim with presents.

The party was in full swing by the time the Swans made their entrance, which wasn't surprising. Between Bella and Renee, they were always running late. Adding Mike and James to the mix, probably didn't help. Poor Charlie.

James and Renee followed Charlie, both carrying bags as well. Mike and Bella brought up the rear, carrying their own, smaller bags.

I glanced at Bella, as she dusted the snow off her coat, giving her a small smile. She returned my smile with her own. We had begun talking again, but there was still tension. We had yet to discuss the argument and nothing had really been resolved. In fact we had yet to physically talk, all of our communication had been via text.

I went over to the newly arrived guests, as did everyone else to greet and wish them a Merry Christmas and all that crap. I started with Renee and made my way down the row: Renee, Charlie, James, Mike and finally Bella.

"Merry Christmas," I said, giving her a small hug.

We needed to keep our distance tonight if we were going to maintain this rouse. Everyone knew we had an argument, and things were probably going to be a little strained but what else was new? Fights between the two of us happened all the time. They were probably expecting us to talk and hash everything out alone, which was perfect, because that was just what we needed: some alone time.

"You too," Bella replied back politely, returning my hug, but turning, a little too quickly to give Emmett a hug.

She must feel a little uncomfortable too.

Once the formal greetings were done, everyone headed into the "formal" living room where the gigantic Christmas tree was set up. Everything looked perfect, like it was taken out of a Norman Rockwell painting, but with a slight edge and air of modernity. There were white Christmas light, candles, and the blazing fireplace which lit up the room, giving it a soft glow. Mike and James put the rest of the Christmas presents under the already full tree. The party then split off into two groups: those over 35 and those under, with Mike and James floating between the two.

"So what's goin' on? What were you guys talking about before we got here?" James asked.

"Nothing much, we were just discussing _my_ New Year's Eve party," Alice stated.

"Really? _Your_ New Year's Eve party huh? I thought we were all throwing it," Rose answered back.

"We are. So many names on an invitation, it just takes up so much space, don't you agree James. I thought we'd just go in alphabetical order," Alice replied, looking to James for a response.

"I'm Switzerland. Leave me out of this," James answered back.

"You just want alphabetical order cause your will be first," Rosalie said.

"Really? I never thought of that?" Alice said back innocently, as went to fill up her drink.

James and Bella both laughed.

And this was probably how the rest of the evening would go: Alice and Rose going on about who got top billing on the party invitation, then an argument over that, then some more discussing about the party, and then presents. Dinner, some side discussions and drinking would all be interspersed throughout the night.

"What party would this be?" James asked.

"Have you not filled him in B?" Jasper asked.

"I think I mentioned it to you," Bella said to James, who just shook his head.

"Well I meant to. We are all throwing a little soiree at Emmett's on New Years," Bella began.

"Everyone's going to be there, or at least they are going to try to get in. Its invite only, but _of course_ you're invited," Rosalie interjected, linking arms with James.

"Way to make us sound elitist, sis," Jasper said.

"Well, it's true," Rose said back.

"Anyway..." Bella said loudly, "it will be fun, and really, who else would you want to spend New Years with, besides us?"

"Where am I spending New Years?" Mike asked, joining the group with Alice.

"With us of course!" Alice responded.

"Oh of course...how could I _ever_ have thought otherwise..." Mike teased, handing Bella a drink.

She nodded a thank you as she and James whispered about something. I was curious what they were talking about, but I didn't want to appear too interested so that we would keep up the facade. I needed to distract myself.

"Jazz, Em - let's get a drink," I told them.

The three of us headed to the bar, getting our usual.

"Take it easy boys," Trevor, Emmett's dad, called out to us with a chuckle.

"You too dad," Em shot back.

"So I'm about to tell you your Christmas present, but before I do, you two have got to promise to keep this secret - at least from the girls," I told the two of them.

"Ok," Jasper said.

"Yea, no problem," Emmett answered as well.

Both Jasper and I looked at Emmett, incredulously.

"What?" he said back.

"No really, you can't tell them. _Any_ of them, that include Rose," I told him.

"Alright, alright," he answered back, making an x motion over his heart. "So what is it?" he asked, excited.

"It's a trip. A weekend trip to Mexico. Just the boys. So keep your mouths shut, cause the girls _will_ be pissed that they aren't invited," I told them.

"They aren't going to be pissed, they are going to be fucking furious. I love it," Jasper said with a smile.

"I'm down. This is awesome. And no worries about not telling Rose, she'll have my balls if I she finds out I went on a trip without her," Emmett answered.

"To a no female weekend," I said, raising my glass.

"I'll toast to that," Jazz replied back.

We clinked and took sips, content with the fact that we were having a weekend to ourselves; we never had that anymore. As long as everyone kept their mouths shut, this would all work out - well, at least for a while.

"So what are you all toasting to?" Bella asked, suspiciously.

"To Christmas," Emmett blurted out.

Both Jasper and I shot him a look. Yea, he sure was the Fort Knox of secrets. This might be harder than we anticipated.

"To Christmas..."she asked, raising an eyebrow towards him.

Emmett looked down. He was an awful liar.

"Yea, you know it's Christmas. Why not toast to it?" I answered, trying to keep it causal and stepping in to fix this before she got even more suspicious.

Bella brushed me off and looked at Emmett. "Em..." she began.

"Rose is calling you. You should go over to her," Jasper told Emmett, who quickly followed his lead and high tailed himself away from Bella and the bar.

"Nice try," Bella said to Jasper and I, beginning to walk towards Emmett, when Jasper caught her arm.

"Don't the two of you need to talk?" Jasper said, offering a suggestion of how to distract her.

"What? Why would we need to talk?" Bella asked, irritated, but trying to remain calm.

"Well, I don't know. How about the fact that something has been going on between the two of you since the start of break and neither of you have been anywhere near each other. You with your 'family outings and obligations'," he said looking at Bella. "And you...well I have no idea what's going on with you," he said looking at me. "Well whatever stupid fight you guys are in this week its ruining break for the rest of us. It feels like we have to choose sides, so go upstairs and fix this," he ordered us.

Bella and I just stood there looking at him, not sure of what either of us should say.

"Come on, go. The sooner you guys get this over with the sooner you guys can come out of time out and play with the rest of the kids," Jasper said, grabbing both of us and pushing us towards the staircase.

There was nothing else to do but go up. I did want to talk to Bella, but I didn't want to be ordered into doing it by Jasper. Both of us reluctantly trudged up the stairs and to the game room. I waited for Bella to get into the room before shutting the door.

"What was that about?" she asked me, upset, as soon as the door was shut.

"What do you mean?" I said back, trying to avoid the question.

"You know what I mean. What the hell was that all about?" she said, sitting down onto the couch.

She seemed pretty upset, much more upset than she should have been over the situation.

"Seriously? You're not going to tell me that you told them?" she said, loudly.

I stood there confused, I had no idea what she was even talking about. "I really have no idea why you're so upset," I honestly told her.

"You have no idea why I'm so upset. Really? Now why would I be upset that you told Jasper and Emmett we were together...I have _no_ idea why that would upset me," she explained, almost in a yell.

It was a good thing music was being piped through the entire house, or we would definitely be in trouble.

She thought I had told them? I started laughing, really unable to contain myself. I knew I shouldn't, but I couldn't help it.

"And now your laughing at this. Excuse me for not finding this so funny," she said as she started walking out the door.

I grabbed her arm and pulled her into me. Wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her close to me.

"Let go of me," she said in a huff.

"No," I answered back, fighting a smile.

"I'm asking nicely," she answered back.

"You know, you're adorable when your upset. It's almost worth not telling you what actually happened," I stated, letting the smile through this time.

"Well I don't need you to tell me what actually happened, cause I already know," Bella started.

"Bell..." I began, but was cut off.

"You decided to tell them what was going on with us and then you had a little toast about it," she continued to rambled.

"Be..." I tried again.

"See, I don't need you to explain anything to me, I've already...," she continued her rant.

I covered her mouth with my hand, the only way I could get her to stop. "Will you just shut up for a moment," I told her with a laugh, keeping her mouth covered and kissing her on the forehead. "I did not tell them anything. Neither Jasper nor Emmett know that we are together. We were talking about the New Year's party and how we wanted it to be the best anyone's ever thrown, so we were toasting to that," I told her, slowly removing my hand from her mouth.

She was taking in what I had just told her, evaluating if this was the truth or not. She seemed to at least believe the first part, that I had not told them that we were together, but I don't know about that New Year's crap, I don't think that I would have believed it.

"So why was Em being so weird about the whole 'We're toasting Christmas' then?" she asked, relaxing a little bit and staring up at me.

"He said that because he's giving Rose his Christmas present to her there and he didn't want you to ruin anything by telling her ahead of time," I explained to her.

That actually made sense - that was some quick thinking for the person who seemed to be permanently flustered around this girl. Anyone else, thinking of some plausible excuse off the top of my head wasn't a problem, but when I'm around Bella, sometimes it's hard to even remember my fucking name.

"Alright, I suppose that makes sense. You really didn't tell them, though? What was that who thing about Jasper wanting us to come upstairs and talk?" she asked, as I let her go so that she could sit back down.

"I just think things have been weird for them. They probably feel like they need to choose sides when we fight, especially since they really don't know what's going on with us. They aren't stupid; they might not know what's actually going on, but they know _something_ is up, and that is probably why he said all that stuff to us," I replied.

She looked down, fumbling with her ring. She was thinking.

"That's probably true. Alice has made some weird comments about not choosing sides, which I didn't really get until now. It is kinda selfish of us I guess. I'm sorry that I blamed you for this...all of this," she said, as she scooted closer to me, so that she was basically sitting on my lap.

"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have been so thickheaded about all of this. I should have called you earlier and not let this drag on..." I told her too.

"Oh the poor male ego and always having to be right. Did I bruise it a little?" she teased, giving me a mischievous smile and playing with my hair. "And just so you know, you don't have to always side with me if you don't think I'm right... but that could prevent a lot of future arguments."

"Good to know. I'll keep that in mind for next time," I replied back with a laugh, kissing her softly.

"Mmm...," she purred softly, pulling away from the kiss.

"Watch it, though, lip gloss. Looking this good takes a while, so don't fuck it up with one kiss," she teased.

"Who said it would just be one? I haven't seen you all week," I answered her back, attempting to kiss her again, but this time she turned her head and I kissed the side of her head.

She laughed. "You think I'm kidding, but James has radar for these things. If I look at all different than how I originally came up here he will notice," she explained.

"So, one hair that's displaced," I said playing with her hair and then trailing my finger down the curve of her neck and down her exposed back. "Or smudged lip gloss," I said, placing my lips an couple inches from her.

She leaned in slightly, and then back. "Stop it! I know what you're trying to, asshole" she teased, popping up and moving to the other side of the couch. "And just remember, two can play at this game," she warned.

"Alright, alright. I'll behave," I said, trying to took as innocent as possible as I held up the boy scout sign.

"Ha, you're no fucking boy scout," Bella said with a snort.

"I was once..."I answered her back.

"Oh I apologize Mr. boy scout, but we should really get back to the party," she said, standing up and grabbing my hand.

"Well what about presents? Do you not want yours?" I asked her.

She stopped dead in her tracks; I had said the magic words.

"Well, I suppose we can stay up here a little while longer," she said with very large smile. "You're first though," she exclaimed, rummaging through her bag that she placed up here earlier.

She riffled through the bag for a while until a medium size box emerged. "Here, but be gentle with it," she told me.

I took the box from her and carefully opened the elaborately wrapped present. She was watching my every move, almost like she was taking everything in. I finally finished with all the paper and now all I had left was to open the box. I carefully lifted the top and flung it to the side. I removed some of the tissue paper and looked at the pieces of paper in the box. It looked very old. I unfolded the paper and it was sheet music, sheet music for Claire de Lune.

"Its first edition," she told me.

I was in awe that she actually got this for me.

"I can't believe you remembered," I told her.

"So you like it?" she asked, her eyes big with anticipation for my answer.

"I love it. Honestly, I can't believe you remembered. I thought when I talk about piano, you just kinda of drown me out and only pretend like you're listening to me," I told her.

"Well I do mostly," she teased, "but I pick up on things here and there. But I wouldn't forget your favorite piece, especially after telling me over, and over, and over again.... Besides, I love hearing you play, just not talking about it."

I couldn't be happier with my gift; this wasn't just any gift, this was a gift that she knew would mean a lot to me and showed me that she was listening. It showed me that she actually cared. Now it was my turn to give her, her present; I just hoped mine lived up to hers.

"Your turn," I told her, going quickly into my room and then returning.

She was excited. She kept shifting her weight from side to side and taping her hand to the side of her leg so that she could restrain herself. She was trying to remain cool and collected, but that wasn't working out so well.

"Do you want the bigger one or the smaller one first?" I asked her.

"There are two?" she asked, her eyes getting bigger and even more excited.

"Yes," I said, with a very large grin.

She looked at me and returned my gigantic smile with an even larger one. Then she sat there silent for a moment, probably pondering which present to open first, like this was Sophie's Choice or something for her. It really didn't matter, she was getting both, it was just in the order she was about to open them.

"Small. No big. No small. Yes, for sure small," Bella finally answered back.

I handed her the small, red, Cartier, box which wasn't wrapped. Her eyes lit up when she saw it. She unclasped the box and flipped the lid open.

"I love it," she said, taking the necklace out of the box and examining it. "You chose it, right? Not some random salesperson?" she asked, fingering the delicate rings one the strand.

"Of course I chose it. What you don't think I have this good of taste," I asked her, a little insulted.

"No, I do.... I just want to make sure. You know what they mean, right? You just didn't think they looked sparkly and so you wanted to get it" she asked.

"Yes, I know what they mean. One is for the past, one's for the present, and one's for the future. Did I pass?" I asked her.

"Of course you passed," she said, as she came over to me and gave me a kiss.

"I thought, your lip gloss," I stated, in between kisses.

"Fuck the lip gloss," she replied.

"And what about James?" I asked, taking a breath.

"Fuck James," she answered back, before intensifying the kiss.

I took advantage of this, returning her kiss. "And what about your other present?" I asked.

She pulled back. "Well, that's another matter entirely. Can I have it?" she asked.

"What do you say?" I teased.

"Now," Bella answered back.

"Ok. Ok. Here you go," I laughed.

She quickly unwrapped this and flung open the box. She took out the frame and looked at it, slightly confused.

"Am I missing something? You gave me a picture of babies?" Bella asked.

"Well, not just any babies, they are us," I explained.

"Huh?" she said.

"See, this one's me and that one's you,' I told her, pointing at the six month olds in the picture. "I guess before you moved or after your mom was up here visiting. Renee knew my mom, so I guess while they were having lunch or something, we had a play date. So in a way, we had our first date when we were six months old," I explained.

"Oh my god. I never knew they knew each other, or that we had even met before," she said, plopping down on the couch, almost as if she was in shock.

"Yea, I found a bunch of pictures while Esme was getting some of the Christmas decorations out. So I thought you might want this," I said.

"Of course I want it. This is amazing," she said almost welling up.

"So I take it you like it," I stated.

"Yes! I love them both," she said, holding back her tears.

The opening strings of Someone to Watch Over Me began to play over system. Dad and Esme were huge Sinatra fans, which got instilled in us. And this was one of my favorites. I had an idea.

"Dance with me, before we go back down," I asked her, holding out my hand for hers.

"Come on, let's just go down. I'm not the best dancer," she told me.

"I don't really care, just dance with me," I told her.

She looked at me, and then gave in, grabbing my hand. I pulled her close as the opening line was sang.

_There's a somebody I'm longing to see_

We sat there slowly rocking to the music as the song went on.

_I hope that she'll turn out to be Someone who'll watch over me_

She placed her head onto my shoulder, as I pulled her closer, continuing to dance in silence.

_I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood I know I could always be good_

"You know you're really not that bad," I told her, looking down at her.

"It not me, it's all you," she said to me.

The song continued to play and we just stood there, close, dancing in silence. This was where I wanted to be. Where Bella was, was the only place I wanted to be. This was one of the best Christmases I'd ever had.

**so what do you think?? love? hate? think it needed a little something more? would love to hear from you all :)**

**the next chapter will be about new years and the new years party.**

**also, check my profile to see what the necklace looks like and incase you haven't heard the sond, Someone to Watch Over Me before, that link will be posted as well. :)**


	21. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

**ok, so begin with i want to say sorry for taking so long. i've had everything planned out, but it was hard to translate it the perfect way without being 105 pages long. lol so the chapter's finally up and its a long one, so hopefully that helps with the extended wait time. :)**

**i also wanted to say thank you to everyone who has commented/reviewed or pmed me, its really appreciated and you guys rock! a million THANK YOU!!!**

**to thecornergirl, THANK YOU - you are AMAZINNNNG! and to ****AmandaCullen84, seriously, the first part of this chapter could not have been written without you. so i cannot say enough kind words!**

**again, smeyer owns everything twilight - i just borrow some of the characters**

BPOV

"Can you stop waving at them? It just encourages this," I scolded Alice and Rosalie through a tight smile, pulling my sunglasses down.

Having to deal with the paparazzi on certain _public _occasions was one thing, but inviting them to lunch and posing for pictures was quite a different story. Both Rosalie and Alice had always been jealous of this aspect of my life - that the paparazzi and the general public had always had mild curiosity of what I did on a daily basis simply because of who my parents are. All of us were local celebrities around here: for me that was more than enough, but for Alice and Rosalie it wasn't. Alice was always making comments about how shitty it was to be me, that I had to watch my back for photographers, but I knew she always secretly wished for this attention. Unlike Alice, Rose made no attempt to hide her general annoyance with the paparazzi's adoration of me: she wanted the notoriety and didn't see why I would want a "normal life".

Thank god Mike was the one the photogs usually followed around, stalking him for that oh important picture of him coming out of Pinkberry; I know how US Weekly goes crazy for "Those Celebrities Just Like US "moments. He loved it. They loved it. It was really a win, win situation for everyone. Especially with being in LA, he would usually took the brunt of all this. Sure, on occasion some lowly photographer would trek all the way up to Forks to try to snap up a couple of pictures, but that was usually on special occasions, and generally had more to do with mom than anything else. Point for Forks - if I had still been in LA, I'm sure this is would at least be a weekly occurrence. The way things were, it was the rare occasion that the paparazzi were trying to hunt me down, and I liked it that way. Honestly, I wasn't even that interesting....

Well, no, that's a lie, because let's be honest, I was damn fucking interesting, but I kept things quiet - I didn't showboat. I didn't want those vultures thinking that it was ok to try and hunt me down just to get a freakin picture. I was perfectly happy being fabulous in private, without a camera in my face all the time. I might be a lot of things, but fame whore I am not.

But some people...

I had to attribute Alice and Rosalie's behavior to simply not knowing any better and not being around it. It's like those stories you hear about kids who aren't allowed to drink and are all suppressed at home during high school and once they are in college they go crazy. Or people who don't have money when they're younger and then have it when they're older and go fucking nuts and decorate their entire house in gold. Or so I've heard. I've never actually experienced either of these scenarios.

"Really Bella, you should just give in to all of this.... it's fantastic," Rosalie said, almost purring.

She was basking in the glory of being the center of attention, what with all of the photographers around.

"That's what I've been telling her, but does she ever listen? No," Alice joined in, giving the photographers a seductive, yet innocent smile.

God, she was trying to flirt with them. Now, I wonder what Jasper would think...

"Thanks for the input guys. I didn't realize that you two were experts on how I should be running my life. Now, let me just drop off the bill and we can get out of here. The appointment at the spa starts in twenty," I told them as I got up from the table and headed for the hostess podium.

This would give me a little break from them in all of their paparazzi glory. I felt my phone go off as I reached the podium and gave the hostess the check.

"No change," I told her with a smile.

'Thanks," she said as I walked away.

I riffled through my purse looking for my phone, finally finding it at the bottom. I don't know how, but it always ends up being at the bottom, even if I put it in the damn cell phone holder. I could see the little red light going off, which made the bottom of my purse glow - must be a text. I checked the screen: it was from Edward. Just seeing the text made my stomach do a quick little flip.

_How's the female bonding going?_

I smiled to myself, pleased that he was thinking about me. Throughout the day he would usually text me, just to say hi or see how my day was going. I looked forward to these little interactions, proving that he was thinking about me just as much as I was thinking about him, though, I'm not the one who normally initiates texts - it was his job to come to me, not the other way round. Though this little rule of mine is proving hard to live by around him. I thought about him all the time. It was sickening how much I actually thought about him and his perfectly crooked smile. Not to mention his perfectly tousled bronze locks. And his... well this was really enough. I needed to stop myself. No more thinking about how dreamy my boyfriend is. That's only for ten year old girls who doodle hearts around their crushes initials like BS+EC=4EVER. Though, I found myself smiling at this thought too.

Ewww. Like I said, I was sickening. Oh my god, I was becoming Rosalie, who couldn't stop gushing about the wonderfulness of Emmett every 30 seconds. I needed an intervention. No more "Edward Thoughts" for the rest of the day. Well, until tonight. It was New Years Ever after all, and I wanted my damn midnight kiss.

_More like paparazzi bonding... Can't wait for the spa. I'll see you tonight_

I sent the text back and crammed my phone deep into my purse. Hopefully, being way at the bottom of my black hole of a purse would make me less tempted to text Edward. I popped my head around the corner, so as to avoid as many photographers as possible.

"Ok, you guys ready to go?" I sighed loudly at Alice and Rosalie, while also giving a look to the paparazzi and smirking.

Rose and Alice begrudgingly got up and trudged over to me, upset that I was breaking up their little love fest.

"So where are you guys off to, huh Bella?" one of the paps let out.

I pushed Alice as quickly as possible into the door, but Rosalie escaped my grasp.

"Well, you'll just have to wait and see," Rose said with a smile, before joining Alice and I inside.

I glared at her.

"What?" she asked, innocently. "Always leave them wanting more, right?"

"Nice," Alice said.

"Well, hopefully this works out for your benefit because, usually, these antics just lead them to follow _me_ around more. Remember last time; you were all flirty and pleasant with them Alice, and then when I was gone they dropped out completely? When will you guys get it? They don't care about you, and never will - I'm the one they want," I explained to both of them.

They were both quiet after that.

Maybe that was a little much. No, it _was_ a little harsh, but maybe this would finally make it register with them that having the press follow you around isn't a good thing. Around here, we were all equal, but in the press, I was the center of attention. I was Beyonce to their Destiny's Child. It's not that I was more attractive, because Rosalie had that in the bag, or that I was more interesting, but I just had that connection - and the majority of the time, it sucked to be _that_ person - which is what I had been trying to get across to them.

"Lattes? My treat," I said, trying to lighten the mood and cheer them up.

I looked at both who were still quiet with downcast eyes. I went over to the coffee shop in the hotel and ordered the drinks.

"Come on you guys. You know I didn't mean anything by that. Rose, you know tonight all eyes are going to be on you," I began.

"This is true,' Rosalie said smugly, cutting me off and taking her latte from the counter.

"What the hell am I, then?" Alice interjected, annoyed, taking Rosalie's cup away from her.

"Seco..." Rose started.

But I cut her off before she could finish that word, because I just knew that it would have only ended badly if I let her finish that thought. "You, my love, are a force to be reckoned with. No one could and would ever miss you," I told her, which seemed to appease her.

"That is true," Alice said, agreeing with me. "We _are_ the only people want to see tonight anyway."

"Damn straight," I said, giving Rose the other latte and taking my own, before continuing on towards the spa.

"We are some hot bitches," Rosalie said, stopping in front of a mirror to look at herself.

Which, of course, caused both Alice and I to stop as well, primping alongside her.

"Yes, yes... We are all hot, but if we continue to sit here staring at ourselves we are going to miss our appointments," I told them, grabbing Rosalie's arm and basically dragging her away from the mirror.

If I hadn't said anything, both of them would have most likely sat there staring at their own reflections the entire time - probably not even realizing that I was gone. I would have found them in that same spot after I left the spa. That was how vain they both were... I was much better. I at least I didn't stare at myself every five fucking minutes.

"Sheesh... Stop being so fucking grabby," Rosalie snapped, as we entered the spa.

"Good Afternoon Ms. Swan, Ms. Hale," the receptionist greeted us, trying to hide her giggle - probably from the way we had entered. "Is the appointment under your name?"

"No, it's under mine, " Alice answered, coming through the door.

" Very good, Ms. Brandon. You're all checked in. Head into the lounge to get changed," she directed us.

We were all regulars here and knew the ropes pretty well. It was the best spa in Forks - well, there were really only two decent spas. With the other spas I was always worried about their cleanliness or if they were going to ask me if I wanted a happy ending at the end, so I guess it's not really saying much that this one was the best. Another point for LA, but I guess it didn't really matter if there were multiple good places as long as you were happy with the one you were going to, so maybe this shouldn't _actually_ be a point. Either way, LA was definitely ahead, though, Forks did offer some things that LA didn't.... I smiled to myself.

No. No, you _**will not**_ go there. You _cannot_ go there. Don't you have any will-power? I needed to stop myself again. Damn, this was going to be harder than I had thought, this not thinking about Ed.... No, no, no. I shouldn't even think his name, that will just lead to bad thoughts. Very, _very_, bad yet yummy thoughts.

The three of us headed into the changing room so that we could put on our robes. In no time we were all changed and headed into our room.

It was set up with all of the necessities a spa should have: dim lights, relaxing music, candles, and potpourri. The room also came with _our_ necessities, chocolate covered strawberries and lots and lots of champagne.

"A toast," Alice announced, taking her flute.

Rosalie and I picked up our glasses as well.

"To a fabulous New.... What is _that_?!" Alice began and then pointed at my neck.

What? What the hell was she pointing at?

"Yes. What _is_ that?" Rosalie said.

Did I have a bruise? No that can't be it. It couldn't possibly be a hickey; I hadn't seen Edward in days and that was just so tacky. I tried to make it a point to never have one. I quickly went to the mirror to look at what they were staring at. I craned my neck to the side, but didn't see anything out of the norm. Nothing to be concerned about; my neck looked normal to me.

"Am I missing something?" I asked them, still concerned that I was missing something totally obvious.

"I would say so," Rosalie said, taking a sip of champagne.

Alice gave her a dissatisfied look, probably because she took a sip from her glass without allowing Alice to finish her toast.

"Do you think we wouldn't notice?" Rose continued with a smile.

I started to get worried. What the fuck were they talking about?

"Notice what?" I said calmly, attempting to keep my cool.

"The Cartier, retard. Where did you get the necklace? Are you holding out on us?" Alice finally explained, letting the interrogation begin.

Well, yes, I was holding out on them, but I wasn't about to tell them that.

And then it hit me: the necklace! I had almost forgotten that I had it on. I hadn't taken it off since Christmas, and I didn't want to. It was a constant reminder of he who shall not be named when he wasn't around. It had only been a couple of days since he had given it to me, but I had already grown accustomed to it and seeing it around my neck - as if it was a part of myself. I hardly even recognized that it was there anymore. Not that I didn't know it was there, it was Cartier after all, but it was like it was just a part of me now.

"Oh yeah. I told you guys about this. I got it as a Christmas present," I answered them, unsure is they would actually accept this or not.

Alice and Rosalie exchanged looks; they clearly were not buying this.

"I think we would have remembered this. It's beautiful Bells. The parentals get it for you?" Alice asked, taking a sip as well.

"Yea, thanks. I absolutely love it," I said, as I fingered the delicate rings on the necklace.

Rosalie squinted as if she were analyzing what I had just said, but she said nothing in response. Rose wasn't one to push the subject if the answer appeared to make sense and was fairly reasonable.

Alice, on the other hand, was a different matter. She needed concrete proof that this was actually what had happened - she was a freaking bloodhound when it came to sniffing out gossip or lies. She would just keep pushing and pushing, until she discovered the truth or the person eventually broke - which was how Alice and I discovered Emmett's love for Nsync and Justin Timberlake.

"So they did get it for you?" Alice pressed, hinting at something more.

I needed a distraction. I needed something that would put the pressure on her or Rosalie. I knew exactly what to go for. Both of them had secrets they were keeping from each other and I knew what both of them were. Alice would be first, with _her_ Christmas present from a certain Hale twin.

"Yea... and what is _that_? You accuse me of holding out..." I asked, pointing at the bracelet on her wrist. "Didn't I see Jasper picking that out?" I asked.

Alice's eyes got a little wider and her mouth tightened with this comment.

Luckily, Rosalie's eyes were glued to the bracelet and didn't see her face, or that would have given Alice away completely. I pressed my lips together to refrain from laughing at Alice's face.

Then it finally clicked and Rosalie looked up, finished with her inspection of the bracelet. She wasn't always the sharpest crayon in the box.

"Jasper got you a present? Why?" Rosalie asked, a little concerned.

As much as she liked Alice, she was always concerned about who her brother dated. Protective would be one way of putting it...

"Jasper got it for you?" I said with feigned shock.

"Uh huh...." Alice said, taking another sip from her flute, trying to stall. "He was my secret Santa, that's why," she explained.

Lie! I knew Ed... you know who, was hers. I had figured out who everyone had before Christmas due to the fact that Jasper was mine. He had gotten me an Alexander McQueen skull clutch that I actually really liked. If I didn't know better I would have thought that Mike or James had picked it out for him...

"That seems like a really nice gift for a secret Santa," I told her, pressing her buttons even more.

I knew I shouldn't and that this would probably come back and bite me in the ass when I least expected it, but this was just too much fun, especially with Rosalie here. It was kind of like poking a bear with a stick; you want to see how much annoyance it will take before it finally attacks.

Alice flashed me a fierce look. "I dunno, he probably just got it from my list of presents or had somebody in the store pick it out for him. You know, gave the sales person the list and they probably chose the one they would get the highest commission off of," she tried explaining.

I decided it was now time to intervene before Rose gets _too_ suspicious - though, her explanation actually sounded believable and made sense.

"That makes sense. We all do know how much you hate getting presents that are not on your approved gift list," I stated, taking a sip from my glass.

Alice finally sighed in relief and took another sip; her moment in the hot seat over for now.

"So let me get this straight. _Me_, the only one here who actually _has_ a boyfriend, was the one who didn't get any jewelry? _Unbelievable_!" Rosalie stated, slightly flustered and annoyed.

Alice and I clinked glasses at this small, yet very important, achievement.

Since Alice's moment was just about up, now it was time for Rose to feel just about as awkward and uncomfortable as I could make her. This would be fun.

"What can I say? Em really needs to step up his game. He's being showed up..." I answered with a knowing laugh.

"Well, what did he get you then?" Alice asked.

Rosalie turned and looked toward the door. "When are they coming in? We are on a really tight schedule today," she said, avoiding the question.

"They'll be here soon," I said.

"Rose, what did he get you?" Alice pressed.

"Yea, what _did_ he get you?" I chimed in.

Rosalie shot me a quick death stare, mad that I was pushing the question too.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said.

Well she shouldn't have said that....this was just going to fuel Alice more.

"You don't want to talk about it? Seriously, what the fuck did he get you?" Alice asked, even more intrigued than she initially was.

I knew what he had gotten her, but only because I had walked in on Jasper and my boy talking about it. I really could have helped diffuse the situation for Rose, but that would be too easy and I was just getting far too much enjoyment out of this... or was about to. And it was payback for every time Rosalie went off about the glory of Emmett and how "fantastic their relationship was" - obviously, it wasn't fabulous, _all_ the time.

There was no way for her to evade Alice's question, because her avoidance would just make Alice go deeper and press even more. It would be her greatest game ever and she would be obsessed with finding out.

"He just got me a picture," Rosalie finally said, casually.

"If that's what you want to call it," I said under my breath, as I took a sip of champagne to restrain my laughter and cover up what I had just said.

I hadn't meant to say that. I had planned to let Alice do all the probing, but it just slipped out.

"What was that Bella?" Alice asked. "Do you know what it is?"

Both Alice and Rosalie stared at me, as if that would make me tell them what I knew... It wasn't working, well not initially anyway. Instead, I simply continued drinking my champagne.

"You do know! Spill it Bella," Alice ordered.

Rose looked over at me again. As if it was my fault that he had gotten her that. I didn't ask Jasper and Edward, damnit, to tell me. I kept drinking, not moving the flute away from my lips for a moment. This little sip had turned into the longest sip of champagne on Earth - and the bubbles were really making my nose itchy.

Alice looked at Rose, then to me and then back to Rose again. "Come on, someone's got to tell me," she whined, giving Rosalie one last pleading look.

That damn look worked every time, and Alice knew it.

"Fine, I'll tell you. _But_, this does not leave this room. Understand," Rosalie said, waiting for our agreement before she continued.

Both Alice and I nodded our heads. Alice couldn't wait, I could see the excitement in her eyes. She was salivating at the anticipation of something juicy.

"So, for Christmas I got Emmett a Rolex. He, in turn, got me a 'racy' picture of himself," she explained, exaggerating her statement with air quotes.

"And...." I interjected.

Rose glared at me. "_And..._ a gift certificate," she finished.

Alice looked over at me and then we both burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. We both understood what she meant.

"No he didn't!" Alice exclaimed.

"Unfortunately, yes. Yes, he freakin did," Rosalie answered, a little dejected.

"So is the gift certificate what I think it's for?" Alice asked, with a stifled laugh.

"Do you really need to ask?" I answered her.

"Well I just wanted to be sure; I wouldn't want to assume on an important matter like this. So, what, an hour of 'good lovin'?" Alice asked, holding back her laughter even more now.

"Two," Rose responded, holding up two fingers.

"Wow. That must mean that he really likes you then, usually it's just one hour," I told her through giggles.

"Shut up," Rose told me.

"So, what's the photo look like?" Alice asked.

Rosalie and I both shot her a look.

"Come on, you know you were thinking the same thing Bells," Alice said.

I _was_ curious. Even though I had known what the present was, I didn't know the specifics of it. I mean, I didn't really think that the boys knew or wanted to know what were the _specificities_ of the picture. And, honestly, that would have just been weird and kind of frightening that they actually knew that much - especially for Jasper. Ewww. But there was nothing weird about me knowing, and I did kind of want to know.

I shook my head from side to side, considering what she had said. "True," I agreed.

"I'm not telling you guys that. I have morals," Rosalie said.

"Really? You're actually going to go with the moral defense? Cause you actually don't have those, you know," Alice corrected her.

"And morals doesn't even make sense in this context, either, dumbass," I corrected as well.

"Thank you moral police," she said looking at Alice, "And professor Swan," she said looking at me.

"Come on!" Alice and I both said at once.

"Fine! Its him, in his letterman jacket, with a... _strategically_ placed teddy bear and a finger placed innocently or seductively, really could be either cause I'm not too sure which, at his lips and that's all," she told us.

"Oh my," I exclaimed.

I was dying. It was imperative that I saw this picture now. Before I only had a mild curiosity, but now my curiosity had peaked and it was imperative that I saw this picture.

"So, what you're saying is that it's like something out of a bad porn magazine," Alice teased.

"You kid, but it's true. And the worst part is that he had this professionally done - it could have been somewhat acceptable if he had done it himself," Rosalie said, irked that we were taking such pleasure in her crappy, yet hysterical Christmas present.

"Well, that's better than having Jasper take the picture for him..." I thought out loud.

"Why? Why would you say that?" Rosalie said, concerned.

"Because he knows about it. That's how I found out," I told her.

"Oh. My. God," she said, mortified.

"Well, it's not like he saw it. At least, I don't think he did..." I told her.

"Just great," she said, taking a swig directly from the champagne bottle.

"Anyway... we're really going to have to see that picture," Alice demanded.

I shook my head in obvious agreement. We both stared at her, almost waiting for her to whip it out.

"You guys, it's not like I carry it on me," Rose stated with a small laugh.

"Well, I dunno; I guess not. It's not like he would have gotten wallet sizes...right? Please tell me he didn't get wallet sizes, though, that would make this even better," I told her.

I wouldn't put it past Emmett to do that - he probably would have handed those out as his senior pictures if he could, that cocky little bastard.

"Of course it's not wallet sized," Rose said, relieved, "It's just at the house, hidden, so no one will ever see it. I'll show you later," she said.

"I'll hold you to that," I told her.

Alice looked confused. "I just don't get it," she said shaking her head with a chuckle. "It's not like he's poor. He could have actually gotten you a _real_ present."

"Well, to Em 'an hour of _his_ good lovin' is a good present. By giving you two hours, that's really like an upgrade. So, Mazel Tov," I joked.

Both Alice and I started laughing uncontrollably again as Rosalie closed her eyes and plopped down on the couch, shoving a giant strawberry in her mouth. "Shut up," she told us again, halfway muffled by the enormous strawberry in her mouth.

The door opened and in came our masseuses. We knew the routine and got on to our tables.

"One more question. He didn't actually give you the teddy bear did he?" I asked her.

Rosalie didn't answer, stuffing her face into the face hole in the table.

*******************************************************

"Seriously Rose, stop looking in the damn mirror," I yelled at her.... again.

Today must have broken her own personal best with the amount of time she had spent in front of that fucking mirror; all day, starting at herself - she must find herself terribly interesting.

The car had arrived, and if I could pry Rose away from the mirror we could finally leave. We were already running late due to the combination of a late dinner and then getting ready late, but, mainly, because of _someone's_ constant and irritating narcissism. It was a good thing we had decided to get the glam squad for the entire night instead of just a couple of hours like we would have normally done - otherwise, we would have been really fucked because there was no way we'd be able to pull off our own hair and makeup and get out of here anywhere near on time.

Dinner was fantastic at our favorite sushi place. It was packed, but of course we still had the best table in the place - especially with the paps lurking outside. Unfortunately, it was great publicity for the restaurant having them there, and I really couldn't fault them for trying got get some free publicity, particularly when we got special treatment inside and still kept our privacy. The paparazzi could be useful in certain situations.

The boys had wanted to join us for dinner, but Rosalie and Alice insisted that they were not allowed. I think they ended up going out somewhere manly, like a steakhouse instead. I refused to actually check my phone, though, to see where they actually were. I had been so good the entire day that I didn't want to ruin it now; almost an entire day without really thinking about him, I was proud of myself. I was positive that if I had checked my phone there would definitely have been an update, or maybe two, on what they were doing and what their ETA was, and that was just too tempting. I didn't want to risk all the progress I had made so far: today I had proved to myself that I was not obsessed with Edward Cullen. Oh damnit, I did it again.

But maybe by freaking out over the mere mention of his name, I wasn't actually not thinking about him... This was getting too complicated - it was too much trying to think with the amount that I had already drank today. I needed to relax, I was really becoming paranoid. I was stressing over the fact that I was thinking about my boyfriend even though there was nothing wrong with thinking about him.

Alice's voice caught my attention, bringing my thoughts back to the situation at hand. "I heard you, you jackass. We're leaving, but talk to your woman about it, she's the one who keeps primping and posing in front of the mirror," Alice said, shoving her cell at Rosalie.

"Hey babe," Rose said, quickly glancing towards Alice's hand, making sure that she was actually grabbing the phone.

This split second distraction had given Alice enough time to sidetrack Rose and shove her out of the room, locking the door behind her.

Alice flashed me a sneaky and triumphant grin.

"Em's not really on the line is he?" I asked Alice.

She just continued to smile.

"Hey!" Rose said, pounding loudly on the door. "There's no one on the phone! Let me back in there!"

Both of us just ignored the pounding and complaining coming from outside Alice's door.

We had decided to get ready at her house because Alice's place was the closest to Emmett's and because she had the biggest bathroom out of the three of us. In fact, her room was the biggest out of all of ours, including the boys - spoiled brat. Her room was the picture of girliness: soft pink with a slight edge to it due to the modernity of her furniture pieces. There were pictures everywhere; they were mostly of all of us - she was obsessed with "capturing the moment", her words, not mine.

Bright light and snap, the flash went off.

"How about one before we go?" Alice said, positioning her camera already.

I blinked a couple times, trying to get my eyes back to normal and make sure I wouldn't tear up and ruin my makeup.

"I think you just did," I told her.

"No, one together," she said positioning herself next to me and posing. "One... Two..".

Snap, the picture was taken again - though this time I was expecting it and smiled accordingly.

"You know, when you're least expecting it I'm just going to pop out of nowhere and attack you and Jasper with huge, bright, flashes - hopefully, in the dark for the fullest impact of that damn flash. Let's see how you like those spontaneous pictures then," I told her reaching for the last of the champagne - which really meant we had to go.

No more liquor always meant that it was time to go. We had already finished two bottles of Dom, not counting what we drank earlier today; in addition to the three large bottles of sake at dinner - and we hadn't even reached the party yet.

"If you're not out in the next 30 seconds, I'm throwing your phone off the fucking balcony Alice!" Rose continued her yelling from outside.

"Just calm down," Alice yelled back at her.

"One. Two. Three. Four," Rose began counting.

Alice rolled her eyes and then looked at herself in the mirror one last time. She looked gorgeous in her strapless, white and black mini. The dress had the perfect mixture of charm, style and sexiness - the last mostly due to the length, which barely covered her ass, and her silver Louboutin stilettos which made her short little legs look longer and fantastic.

She spritzed herself again, grabbed her clutch and threw the door open. "I'm here, calm the fuck down. And take one step with my phone, love, and I will beat you with your own Manolos," she threatened Rosalie with a smile.

Rosalie narrowed her eyes, considering if Alice would actually follow through - which she totally would - and then handed the phone over to Alice. Regardless of where we were going or how gorgeous Rosalie looked, which was more amazing than usual, or fabulosity her custom Versace dress, Alice would not think twice about pummeling her. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Alice used the phone as an excuse to just get the dress away from Rose.

Alice had seen the cobalt Versace first and wanted it, knowing that it would never fit her properly because of the proportions of the dress. She was too short and, unfortunately, the dress would just make her look even shorter - she just didn't have the height to pull off a dress like that. But Rosalie did. And it was the exact type of dress that Rose would go for. It was tight in all the right places, plunging enough to be incredibly sexy, yet still classy, and it had a slit in the front which would make her legs look longer than they actually were.

But if Alice couldn't have it; no one could. She tried to hide the dress, but knew that wouldn't work. Since we were all together she couldn't hide the dress without drawing attention to what she was doing. She tried to divert Rosalie's attention with a sequined purse at the front of the store, changing the course of our shopping excursion and distracting her with something shiny, which had almost worked. Alice was practically in the clear, keeping Rose's attention on the purse, when the dress caught Rosalie's eye in the mirror. We turned around and it was like love at first sight. Alice knew it was over then - she had lost the imaginary battle. She knew the dress looked fantastic on Rose and was even happy for her that she had found a dress that looked that good, but I knew she was jealous and wanted the dress for herself.

"Thank you," Alice said with a smile, snatching her phone from Rose's hand.

"Uh huh..." Rosalie said to her. "You guys ready? Bells?"

I looked in the mirror as well, making sure not a hair was out of place. My gorgeous and perfectly coiffed self stared back at me. My hair was doing that Victoria Secret, tussled, runway thing, only with slightly more curls and my makeup was flawless. My dress was perfect as well: a strapless fitted maroon corset top that joined with the black silk bottom of the dress that flowed out to a couple inches above my knee - it was short, but nothing close to Alice's micro mini. And my Choos sparkled like black onyx. I smiled to myself. I looked fucking hot tonight.

"Alright girls, let's get this party started!" I said rushing over to them and flicking the light switch off in the room.

Our buzzed selves zipped down the stairs, said goodbye to Alice's parents and headed into the town car which drove us over to Em's. 'The car ride over was short and all about the pictures and, of course, the drinking. Alice's parents had so generously put another bottle in the car for us - so very thoughtful of them - they hadn't wanted us to lose our buss. The majority of the parents were like this; they didn't mind the drinking and the occasional drugs as long as we kept it under control and private. So drunken bar brawls with photographers were out of the question... what a shame.

The car pulled up to the entrance of Emmett's. "So, to finish the toast we started, oh, 7 hours ago: to the best friends I can ask for, and the hottest bitches I know, let's have the best fucking New Years of our life!" Alice exclaimed, in a slightly inebriated squeal.

We held up our glasses, while Alice quickly snapped a picture, clinked our glasses and got out of the car.

"Night Richie. Thanks! See you in the morning," I said as we got out of the car.

Alice and Rose said their thanks and waved back as well.

Alice's driver was the sweetest old man; whenever we were out partying he would always have some sort of fast food and aspirin to ease along the hangover process, when he picked us up.

"Ladies!' Emmett yelled as we walked up to the house.

He was giddier than usual. I wondered how much blow he had done before we got there. The amount he consumed started to worry me. A little here and there was all in good fun, but making a habit out of this was not alright. Hopefully, it was just in the spirit of the holiday because Rose didn't seem too concerned.

"Em," I said, giving him a kiss on the cheek as he gave me a glass of champagne.

"You look gorgeous," he said to me. "As do you," he told Alice, giving her a glass as well.

"And you..." he said looking at Rose, mouth gaping open in awe, "my breathtakingly, beautiful girlfriend... I have no words, aside from when can I get that dress _off_ of you?" he told Rose, scooping her up in his arms and carrying her into the house.

"Where's everyone else?" Alice asked.

"We're right here," the velvety voice said from inside the door.

I knew who's voice it was. I felt my anticipation rise; I couldn't wait to see him. Emmett was dressed impeccably, which only made me more giddy to see what Edward was wearing - he must look amazing. Shit! I said his name again. Wait, it was ok to say his name now, though, cause he was actually here! Here! In front of me!

I bounced through the door, almost leaping into _Edward's_ arms; I was really glad I was able to say his name now, in fact my earlier reticence seemed a little stupid at the moment. He seemed a little taken aback, but was just as excited to see me as well. I wanted to kiss him right then and there - he looked too good not to be kissed. I leaned in a little, but then remembered where we were, so I just leaned in, and instead gave him a kiss on the cheek. This whole "not being public" thing was going to be even harder tonight...maybe the time had come _to_ be public? It sure would make things easier.

"Hi," I told him, with a smile.

"Well, hello," he said back with a smile and a glimmer in his eyes.

"Well, aren't the two of you being civil," Emmett said.

"Well it is New Years," I told him, "and it's not like we hate each other or anything. To new beginnings!" I said holding up my glass.

Alice held hers up too, but no one else.

"No one else has got a glass, B," Jasper explained with a laugh, basically popping out from nowhere.

"Well, we should really fix that," Alice said with her best mischievous grin, linking arms with Jazz and walking towards the bar. "Come on!"

We all started to walk up to the bar but then twosomes began to drop off. Rosalie and Emmett were the first ones to basically disappear. I figured they were making the obligatory rounds, because there was no way they had gone upstairs already - Rose hadn't even shown off her dress yet, making every other girl there feel hideous.

Jasper and Alice made it to the bar and were chatting with Eric and Tanya. Jasper was trying his best to stay a part of the conversation but I could see that he couldn't take his eyes off Alice, which was exactly what she was going for. She knew it and she was toying with him. Alice kept the conversation with the other two going while she nonchalantly touched his arm gently or her leg, or cocked her head to the side seductively. She was working it.

This was the perfect opportunity, and Edward saw it immediately as well. He pulled me into the guest room which had been designated for people to put their jackets and such. It was perfect, because if anyone else walked in we could just say that we were putting my purse down - even though my stuff was already upstairs from when Ritchie had brought over our purses and duffel bags earlier.

As soon as the door was shut I leaned over and kissed Edward. He was going to be my first and last kiss of the night... though I still wasn't too sure how the midnight kiss was going to work yet. He wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and just held the kiss. I was just glad to be with him - honestly, I had missed him all day. I loved all my friends and I had a great time today, but there was no one else I wanted to be with tonight.

We finally broke our kiss and he put me down, still keeping his arms securely around my waist, though. "You look," he said, pausing to just look at me, like he was examining everything about me.

"What?" I asked, concerned that something was wrong or that someone had ruined my dress when we came in.

"Perfect," he let out a sigh with his perfectly, crooked smile.

I smiled back at him and gave him another kiss. I could kiss him all day long and still that wouldn't be enough.

"You know, you don't look too bad yourself, sir," I told him with a giggle.

And he didn't. Jasper was the one who usually had the innate style, he just had that "it" and knew how to dress - not that Edward dressed poorly, but it was just that style wise J always one-upped him. Tonight, though, Edward was the star. He looked amazing in his Versace suit paired with a mauve dress shirt underneath. Basically, he was just yummy.

"I missed you today," I told him.

"Hmm.... I couldn't tell that at all," he laughed. "I thought I was going to have to catch you when you bounced through the door... not that I minded. We should probably go outside, though, before people start noticing that we're gone" he said, letting go of my waist but grabbing my hand instead.

"And, I missed you too," he said quietly as we walked out the door and he kissed the back of my hand.

I smiled again. I could see myself doing a lot of that from now on.

As soon as we were back in the party, though, we dropped hands. Keeping up appearances... joy. I didn't want to let go of his hand; even though I knew we had to. I noticed the hesitation he had when we let go, he didn't want to break our contact either. We started walking and he placed his hand on the small of my back, as if to guide me through the crowd, though really this was just another way to stay connected. I felt another smile creeping up.

"Where have you been, gorgeous?" James asked me and eying Edward. "Wait, you know you two kinda match..."

He had popped out from nowhere.

Edward and I looked at each other giving each other a look and laughing; we kind of did. The mauve shirt he was wearing complimented the maroon in my dress well. We matched in every way tonight.

"What's do you know?" I tipsily agreed with James.

"Why don't I grab us some drinks," Edward said with a chuckle.

Without waiting for a response, Edward headed off towards the bar.

"So where were you?" James inquired again.

"Just grabbing something from upstairs," I said, taking the champagne from his hand.

"Oh really?" he asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow, as he reclaimed his drink from me.

"What?" I asked coolly.

James just linked his arm around mine and began walking, "Nothing darling, it's New Years, you're allowed to do whatever you'd like," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "Why don't we go get those drinks we were promised by that handsome barkeep Cullen."

"There sure are a lot of people here," I told him, as we walked.

"Do you not know everyone?" he asked.

"No, I do. I'm just surprised so many of them came or were even around. A lot of these people have been out of school for a while - figured they would be with new friends or whatnot," I stated.

"Are you really surprised that they chose your party, though" James asked again.

"No," I said bluntly.

We both laughed as we approached the bar and grabbed a couple more drinks. Mike was there, but I didn't see anybody else. This was interesting. I knew my friends well and none of them liked to be too far away from the alcohol at a party unless....

But then, where was Edward? Where did he go since he said he would meet us here?

I would figure that out later - right now I was on a quest to discover where everyone else had scattered off to for their respective hook ups. I just needed to get away from Mike and James first.

"Hey hot stuff," James said to Mike, giving him a kiss, "look who I found."

"And where was my darling baby sister?" Mike asked.

"She was around...." he said, both of them exchanging a look.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked them, taking a large sip from my flute.

"Nothing," Mike answered, holding back a smile.

"That nothing doesn't mean nothing; that nothing usually means a something," I told both of them.

Again both looked like they were suppressing gigantic grins from spreading across their faces. "Huh? Bells, you've had too much to drink to actually try making any sense - not that I blame you, its New Years after all. You keep drinkin," Mike said, almost thrusting another glass of champagne at me.

I was confused. What were they talking about? Maybe I had drank too much already. But I needed to continue my mission at hand. I was like Jason Bourne on an investigative mission.

"Ok, I'll see you guys later. I'm gonna go find Alice. You two stay out of trouble," I told them, as I walked away from the bar, with yet another flute of champagne. I was double fisting, but it was New Years, there was nothing wrong with that.

Who to search for first? Emmett and Rosalie were probably the easier of the two to look for because they tended to like public displays of affection, and this would be a very, _very_ public display. I moved along the outskirts of the main room slowly while I sipped the first of my champagne flutes. I nodded and said hello to those who said hello to me, but didn't really go out of my way to speak to anyone. I was focused on the mission at hand, my eye on the prize; like any other good spy would be.

I kept wandering along until I was at the edge of the room where the other hallway connected to the main room. Most people didn't know about, or were not allowed, in this area because it wasn't a "designated party area". I snuck into the hallway, where I saw my targets, though, not the targets I thought I would find. There sat Alice and Jasper, sitting on a couch observing the party. I ducked my head back into the hallway to make sure I was positioned accordingly so that no one would see me. Once I was satisfied with that, I popped my head and my arm holding my champagne out, so that I could _observe_ what was going on all while still drinking.

To the average onlooker, the two of them sitting there like that wouldn't look like anything but two friends, talking and taking a break from the dancing. But for those of us in the know, or those who were just extremely perceptive, there was _so_ much more. The two of them were close, like tooo close - close to the point where Alice was almost on top of him. And then there was the fact that they weren't paying attention to anything else except each other, though, there were some quite outlandish things going on all around them. On top of that, Jasper's hand was on top of Alice's, like they were holding hands but not. It was actually very cute. I sat there watching them and sipping my champagne for a bit while they sat there whispering to each other and giggling. I wanted to see some crazy hook up, or at least some kind of intense kiss, but instead, all I got was just some wholesome cuddling. It was really sweet and they seemed to actually make a good couple. They just fit together. I wonder if people would say that about me and Edward?

I would have stayed there longer except that I was finally spotted. I ducked my head back into the hallway, hopping that Jasper didn't actually see me sitting there watching them. But that was a no go, because in no time pillows were being chucked at me and Jasper had popped around the corner.

"I spy, with my little eye..." Jasper began.

I smiled and tried to shrug innocently. "Hi?" I said.

"So were we entertaining you?" he asked, placing his arm around my shoulder and leading me to where they were sitting.

"No! All you were doing was talking," I said.

Oops, that slipped out; didn't mean to actually say that - maybe I was on the verge of drinking too much.

"Well, sorry to disappoint. I didn't know you were looking for your own personal sex show. Try the next couple over," he said with a laugh.

"Is that were Emmett and Rose are?" I teased.

"Sister, Bella. I don't want to be thinking about my sister doing anything of that nature," Jazz said.

"What, about Rose and Em having wild and crazy animal sex?" Alice asked, laughing.

"Sister people!" he exclaimed.

Both Alice and I laughed. It was kinda fun to rile up Jasper; probably because he never seemed to lose his cool, unless it involved Rosalie in an _uncompromising_ position, err situation.

"Were the throwing of the pillows really necessary Alice?" I asked her.

"Well, it was either the pillows or the bottle, and since you are my best friend I went with the pillows. And also, the bottle still had something left in it, which would be a waste," she explained, pouring the remnants of the champagne bottle between the three of us.

She placed the empty bottle in the ice bucket and sat back into the couch. As she relaxed back I saw her interlace her hand with Jasper's like it was no big deal - which I'm sure it wasn't for them, but this was really the first time I had seen them do anything like this in public; for me, this _was_ a big deal. He moved closer to her too. They were pros at being together in public while still not appearing to actually be together. Of course, the darkness of the room helped as well. I needed to take notes, Edward and I should try some of this stuff out.

"We've got a favor to ask you," Jasper said.

"What?" I asked, hesitantly drinking from my glass.

"So, we'd like to kiss each other on midnight but we'd need you to act as cover," he said.

I glanced at the clock, it was almost 11:30.

"What do you mean cover?" I asked again.

"Well, you need to kiss Edward," Alice said matter-of-factly.

"What?!" I coughed, almost choking on my champagne.

"Alice!" Jasper exclaimed.

"Sweetie, you were just taking too long to get to the point," she said.

"Ok, come again? You _want_ me to kiss Edward," I asked, trying to contain a smirk.

"Well that's the only solution we could think of, because obviously I can't kiss Edward... ew gross. And if I kissed Mr. Teddy Bear over there, Rose would flip out, so really the only other person I could kiss is Jasper. While you have many options," Alice explained to me.

"But we wanted to make sure this was ok with you first, though, cause we know you and Edward don't exactly _get along_ all the time. Though tonight you two actually kind of match," Jasper added on.

"So I've heard," I stated.

"We would totally owe you one, Bells," Alice concluded.

So they wanted me to kiss Edward at midnight and would consider it a favor to them. This was shaping up to be a fantastic night.

"Well I don't know you guys," I whined, trying to play up the imposition they were putting on me.

"Come on," Alice pleaded with me.

They both looked so desperate. And who was I to turn down a friend in need.

"Alright, in the spirit of friendship, I will do you this favor. But you two owe me.... Big time!" I told them.

I picked up the other champagne bottle and stood up. "Now, if either of you would like to come with me to track down Em and Rosalie and see what they're up to, you are more than welcome. Though, J, I don't know if you'll really want to see what I'm on the search to discover..." I said with a giggle and a wink at Alice.

Alice promptly got up as well. "Sorry Jazz, but this is too good to resist. Go find Edward or something. Love youuuu," Alice said, jacking the champagne bottle and taking a swig.

"Yea, be sure to tell him about your little plan for midnight - he might have a problem with it," I yelled out as Alice pulled me through the crowd.

We zipped throughout the house, giggling, drinking and taking pictures. I had seen Edward talking with Mike and James but Alice kept pulling me along. We had made eye contact briefly, but he just smiled and laughed when he saw Alice dragging me by the hand.

There were so many people it was difficult to maneuver through the house. We finally made it outside and to the pool house, but it was dark. No one was there and it had looked undisturbed, so there was no chance that they had already been in there. We looked around a little bit more, but still found nothing.

"Wherethehell are they?" Alice slurred.

It seemed like she had maybe had a _little_ too much to drink.

Everything was still there, aside from the occasional sway of a tree, but then I saw movement on the hammock. I motioned to Alice to look over there and then held a finger to my lips to make sure that she would be quiet. I had a feeling that this was them; either that or we were just about to pounce on some unsuspecting other couple. Either way it would be a good time.

Alice and I made our way carefully over to where the hammock was, making sure to stay silent and out of sight. As soon as we got close enough we ducked behind a tree. I stuck my head out a little, to make sure it was actually Rosalie and Emmett.

"Targets in sight?" Alice whispered.

"Check," I said. "Camera ready?"

"Check," Alice answered, holding up the camera.

"Flash off, video on?" I whispered.

She fumbled with the camera and held it up again. "Double check!"

We both looked at each other and nodded. "Attack!" we both said.

We silently made our way even closer to the hammock, camera out and ready to start recording. We inched closer and closer finally almost directly next to the hammock. Still they hadn't noticed us... seriously, how oblivious were they?

"What are you two doing?" Emmett said from behind us.

We both jumped a little - we were not expecting his voice to be coming from behind us. Alice and I turned around, looking between Emmett and the hammock.

"Um... nothing," I said, innocently.

"We were spying on you and Rose," Alice said.

I elbowed her in the side.

"Why were you looking for us out here? Especially in the hammock?" he asked.

"Um, cause you guys were making out in the hammock," Alice said.

"No we weren't," Emmett said.

"What do you mean you weren't?" I asked.

"Well, I mean exactly what I said. We were not, and have never, made out in this hammock. In fact, Rosalie hates the hammock - scared of getting trapped in the net or something. And it's too cold for her to be outside, supposedly," he explained.

Alice and I looked at each other confused.

"Well, then who have we been spying on for the last five minutes?" I asked.

Emmett walked over to the hammock. "You've been spying on the blankets I put out here in case anyone actually came out here. With the wind going I guess it could sway back and forth, so it would look like someone was in it. But you would have to be pretty..." Emmett said, laughing.

"Don't finish that sentence," Alice threatened.

The three of us looked between each other and all busted up laughing.

"So this entire time we thought that we were spying on you two..." Alice began.

"We were actually spying on blankets," I said, causing the three of us to laugh even harder.

"Maybe the two of you shouldn't have anything more to drink if you think blankets look like people.... But we should get inside, you two look like you're going to freeze and its almost midnight," Emmett stated.

The three of us made our way into the house still laughing at our stupidity.

"So how did the hunt go?" Jasper asked, when we walked into the door.

Alice and I looked at each other and simply laughed.

"I don't think they want to talk about it," Emmett answered for us.

"Thank you Em," I said, grinning ridiculously widely.

"Anything for my two favorite girls," he said, giving Alice and I a kiss, each, on the side of the head.

"Anyway... Let's meet up with everyone else, there's about two minutes to midnight," Jasper said.

We made our way to the center of the dance floor where we met up with Rosalie, Edward, Mike and James. As soon as we arrived everyone stood in the general vicinity of their assigned couple.

"So did you hear about the 'plan'?" I asked Edward.

"Yes, Jasper already told me about it. I mean it's the least we could do to help even out the ratio... cause that would just be weird to kiss Alice - aside from being incest and all," he said with a glint in his beautiful green eyes.

"Yes, we couldn't have any of that. What kind of friends would we be?" I said with a smirk.

This was it, the countdown had begun and I couldn't wait to finally get to one. I was going to kiss Edward in front of everyone and this time it was allowed; hell, it was expected. There was no hiding. There was nothing to fear. It was easy, a simple kiss. It was the perfect way to start out the upcoming year. Our first kiss of many for the new year. We were inching closer to each other.

"I'm so sorry," Victoria said as she bumped into me with Tyler.

"Crap," Edward said as felt down his pants.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry Edward I didn't mean to spill on you," she said.

"Yea dude, that was totally my fault, it was my glass. I'm sorry," Tyler apologized.

I could see that he was slightly annoyed, but Edward wasn't going to make a big deal out of it. It was an accident, Tyler didn't do it on purpose.

"Don't worry about it," he said to Tyler and Victoria. "I'll be right back, I just want to get a napkin or something. I _will_ be back in time," Edward told me.

"Alright, I trust you," I told him.

"Sorry again," Victoria said.

I turned around and dismissed what she had to say. I knew it wasn't her fault and that she didn't do it deliberately, but it was still a pain. It was wrong to blame her, but I really didn't care, she'd get over it.

People started calling out the numbers loudly.

8.

7.

6.

There was still no Edward. I was starting to get a little concerned that he wasn't going to make it back in time. I looked through the crowd, but I still couldn't see him.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

And then I was spun around and kissed. He must have been blocked from coming around the way he left, which is probably why it took more time to get back to me. I closed my eyes and just kissed. And it was a good kiss. It was unexpected and a little different; it was intense and passionate, not something that I was really anticipating out in the open with a hundred people around me, but I went with it. I let myself sink more into the kiss and just get lost in it. I moved closer and reached around his neck, like I usually did. We both came closer together, intensifying the kiss even more. And then I actually remembered where I was and that it would probably be a smart idea to stop so that people wouldn't get the wrong impression.

"Mmm. Happy New Year," I said, smiling and opening my eyes.

"Happy New Year, to you too," a familiar voice answered back.

I looked up and took a step back, breaking away from his embrace.

Staring back at me was Jacob Black.

**Soooooo? whatcha think? love it/hate it let me know. i'd love to hear from you :)**

**also have some goodies which you all should check out on my home page - there are some character "theme songs" i'll be putting up and i'll probably put the NYE dresses up as well. i feel like they embody the characters and get me in their mindframe when i'm writting about them. the only one i don't have one for yet is Edward - so if anyone's got some suggestion - i'd looove to hear it. he's one tricky bastard to find music for.**


	22. Setting the Record Straight

**again, sorry for the delay - i know its a reaccurring theme with me, but i got this one up faster than i have before, so yay. and i've already started on teh next chapter, so i'm lightyears ahead of where i normally am at this point.**

**a big BIG thank you for everyone who has reviewed and pmed me. i can't tell you how happy i am that you guys are enjoying this little story of mine. you are awesome and you guys rock! :)**

**for all of you wondering, or if you haven't noticed. i'm going back and renaming the chapters, so they are a little more creative than chapter one, lol. so that's why dome have titles and others don't. i haven't gotten through everything yet, only at about 7 i believe.**

**i hope you guys like the chapter. i had a lot of fun writting it, so i can only hope you get as much fun reading it. to tcg, a big thank you is owed, you made this chapter what it was. and to the fabulosity of amandacullen84, you are simply amazing. not enough words. and for all of you who havent' checked out their pages and stories, i highly recomend that you do! **

**enough from me, here's the chappie...**

EPOV

What the hell was going on? I think that had been the theme for the past couple of days. New Years had been a disaster and now school was back in session, two days in already, making things even worse.

I had been driving myself to school the past couple of days; I was in a shitty mood and didn't think I needed to unleash all my teenage angst - or at least that's what they would think - on anyone else. I also used the extracurricular angle as a way to avoid any further questioning. With Rose staying after for cheer and Jasper working on details for Bella's charity gala, it gave me the perfect excuse.

The fact was that I needed to figure things out. Bella and I hadn't spoken since New Years, but there really hadn't been any opportunity for this either. I shouldn't blame her, she's been accosted by the press since that night - but there was that sting of doubt that maybe she didn't _want_ to talk to me. I _needed_ to believe, though, that our lack of communication was due to media. Somehow, their... _kiss_...was literally front page news: it was all over Forks and all over the national tabloids as well.

The Kiss. Every time I fucking thought about it I just wanted to punch that doucebag in the mouth. But I couldn't, because that would just expose Bella and I and we hadn't even discussed that. Hell, at this point I didn't even care. I _wanted_ them all to know, especially Jake, that she was _my_ Bella and not his. That he no longer had any right to lay one of his roided up, over entitled fingers on my girl.

Upsetting Bella, though, was the last thing that I wanted to do so I had to play it cool. And at this point I didn't even know if we were actually still a we. Maybe New Years had changed things. Maybe she knew Jake was going to show up. Maybe she had wanted him to show up. There were just too many maybes in that sentence. I just needed to actually talk to her.

It didn't look like today was the day, though, or at least right now wasn't. I saw Bella pull in with Emmett with a mass of paparazzi following them. Emmett pulled up to the front of the school and dropped Bella off, so that she could quickly duck in without any unwanted pictures; Emmett's behemoth of a car obstructed any shots they would be able to take. The press is not allowed onto school property, but the morning rush always seemed to draw a couple out, taking advantage of the fact that there are less security out then. The school had yet to implement the extra measures to protect their students privacy, but supposedly that would be starting very, very soon. Though, these security measures did not account for the students, who might be trying to take advantage of the situation and "leak" information and pictures for the sake of their own notoriety.

I got out of the car and made my way over to Jasper and Rose who were waiting for Alice and Emmett.

"This seems pretty bad," Jasper said, stating the obvious.

"It's never been this bad before," Alice answered, hoping down from Em's gigantic Hummer.

I know Bella needed car that would shield her from the press, but a gigantic yellow Hummer - that was hardly conspicuous.

"Yea, it's really bad. Those fuckers kept going in front of my car as we tried to drive to school. Administration's got to do something soon, or there's going to be a couple assault charges brought up on me for ramming someone's camera up their ass," Em stated, slamming the driver's door.

The tone was serious this morning; much more serious than I had seen before around the school. The invasion of Bella's privacy had affected all of us and the attention Bella was getting was infectious. Everyone, from the students to even some of the faculty, were interested in what was going on. Luckily, none of them were stupid enough to actually say anything to her. Mostly, people lurked around trying to overhear things, which in itself was annoying but could easily be avoided. There were, of course, those who thrived in this environment and used this to their advantage. Things were getting leaked to the press from inside the school - things that only students would know or things that only certain people would know. And these bits of information had to have been leaked by some of Jacob's little posse. But of course there was no proof linking this, so we really couldn't do anything.

"Come on you guys. Let's just get inside," Jasper said, snapping me back to reality.

We made our way to our respected classes and to do the whole productive student thing, keeping up the facade that everything was alright. For the most part the teachers left us alone, knowing that we were all somewhat involved with what was going on with Bella. I wasn't sure how the others were acting, I knew it was hard for them as well, but it was nothing like what I was going through. I went through the majority of my classes mostly in a daze: I was there only in body. My mind was somewhere else altogether.

My mind was on Midnight of New Years Eve, watching Jacob kiss my Bella. I had returned from getting some napkins to dry off my pants from the spilled champagne and there they were, Jacob with his arms around Bella, drawing her closer to him, and kissing her. I'm sure if I was holding something I would have dropped it. I was in utter shock. I was still in shock that, that had actually occurred. And to make matters worse, I hadn't even done anything to stop them. I just stood there watching, doing nothing.

That is always what my mind leads me back to: why the fuck didn't I _do_ anything when I saw my girlfriend get kissed by another guy? Just thinking about it turns my stomach. That night I thought I was going to throw up when I saw it, and every time, thereafter, that I've thought about it I get that same feeling. The image of the two of them is ingrained in my head. It should have been me kissing her that night - not him. If I had just gotten to her a little earlier or wasn't such a vagina and didn't give a shit about ruining my pants this whole situation would have been avoided.

I needed to stop dwelling and obsessing over what already happened, though, and start looking towards the future, because there was nothing I could do about the past, but I sure as hell could do something about _our_ future. This wasn't being proactive. I needed to focus on figuring out when I could talk to Bella and see what was going on with her. I wanted to make sure she was ok, comfort her, and take care of her. I just wanted to be there for her. I would do anything and everything for that girl. I just needed to see what that anything and everything was. And hopefully, that involved killing Jacob fucking Black.

What a douche.

"Hey Cullen? You coming or were you planning on hiding out for the rest of the day in here? Scared of the paparazzi - hiding something?" Paul called out, with a smug grin on his face.

Em immediately got up and stood between Paul and I. He was looking for any excuse to punch one of Jacob's lackeys in the face - and personally, I was all for it. It was probably not a good idea, though, to keep Emmett from getting suspended.

"Em, let it go," I told him, squeezing him on the shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. "Later," I told Paul with a nod, staring him down as we left the classroom.

"You should have just let me sock him in the fucking face," Emmett whined.

"And who would you be punching now?" Alice asked.

She was waiting outside to go with Emmett to their next class.

But Alice didn't need a response because as soon as the words left her mouth, Paul and Embry walked out the door.

"Oh Edward, why are you trying to stop him? Punching Paul would only be helping him out - it'd be much more cost efficient and less time consuming than plastic surgery. Then that might actually help him get laid without having to _pay_ somebody, and I'm not talking about Stanley over there - she's not even stupid enough to get with _that_ anymore; she learned her lesson after the _very_ quick first time round. You do have to be careful with _those_ type of girls, you know? You never know where they've been. Keeping him away from those out-of-towners would be good for the school, though; it would probably reduce the likelihood of a Chlamydia outbreak among the freshman around here. But maybe he's used to the burning sensation he gets when he pees now. Or maybe he's finally up for that free doctor's visit since he's paid for the last three, this one should be free then, right?" Alice said, rather loudly.

Other people walking in the hall had stopped to watch and listen to her little diatribe. Little groups had now gathered, grouping the random people who were simply walking to their classes. Paul stopped in his tracks turned around.

"You know Alice, you have quite a big mouth for such a small person. Why don't you do something useful with it? You know you _are_ the perfect height," he said holding a hand up to his waistline, "and from what I've heard are a pretty good la..." Paul began.

"Careful with how you talk to my cousin," I warned, stepping between Alice and Paul.

Alice pushed me back, though, giving me a look. She could definitely take care of herself, but I could see things spiraling out of hand quickly and wanted to take the proper precautions.

Alice reached forward and pulled on the opening of Paul's bag, drawing him closer to her. "Oh Paul, if you really wanted me to blow you so much, all you had to do was ask - but would I really be able to find anything there? I don't really take on charity cases. I mean you have a lot of _short_...comings there, and I wouldn't want to have any premature problems, right ladies?" Alice said, turning to the other girls in the hall for support. "I suppose that with you being _other_ people's bitch and all, you should just be happy actually having a penis in the first place. So having a small, ill functioning, one is probably better that not having one at all right?" Alice retorted.

Everyone in the hallway was silent. Some were in shock that Alice had actually said this, others were trying to hold in their laughter, and others were a little of both. Paul looked as if he were going to kill Alice, but she just kept that angelic smile plastered across her face.

"And it's probably best if you left now. Buh bye," Alice told him, making a scooting motion with her hand.

"Come on man. Let's just go," Embry tried to reason with him.

"This isn't over Brandon," Jared threatened.

As he called out, Mr. Davidson, the assistant principal, walked down the hallway. Alice's eyes lit up at this - she was scheming something.

"Did he just threaten you Alice?" Davidson asked her. "Paul, stay here."

"Uh..." Alice said, looking down at the ground.

She was playing the helpless victim. And Davidson would completely buy into it; in the eyes of the administration Alice was the perfect little angel and could do no wrong.

"Alice, it's ok. You can tell me," Davidson urged, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Alice finally looked up and shook her head. "Ok... Yes he did Mr. Davidson. I don't want to get Paul in trouble or anything," Alice said, meekly.

"It's ok dear. Be strong. Tell me what happened," Davidson said, trying to calm her.

"Oh please," Paul interjected.

Mr. Davidson shot him a look and then looked back to Alice, urging her to continue with her story.

Alice paused, giving herself a moment to compose herself. "He just keeps threatening me and making lewd gestures to me. He keeps saying 'I'm the perfect height and kind of girl' to give oral sex," Alice told him quietly, playing up the embarrassed angle.

"He is sexually harassing you? You know we have a no tolerance policy on that. And with everything going on with Bella - I know how close you are with her. I'm so sorry that you have to deal with all of this. I will take care of this," Davidson told her.

And the Oscar goes to.... Alice had him right here she wanted him. He had bought her story hook, line and sinker.

"I wouldn't say that it was sexual harassment... yet. Mostly, I think he's just high," Alice explained, again, playing up her angelic and innocent look.

"Wait a minute. I'm not high and I sure as hell did not sexually harass her. You can ask anyone here. She's lying," Paul tried to explain.

"Don't try to drag your peers into this - they have nothing to do with what is going on. And why would she make up something like this?" Davidson asked him.

Paul looked at her, and Alice kept her eyes locked on his - daring him to say something further about the whole Jacob situation. If he was that stupid to bring that up, he really was an idiot. Whatever, it was his funeral.

"Because of the whole media circus going on outside. She thinks that I have something to do with it," Paul answered.

Idiot.

"Well do you? Because that, _too,_ goes against school policy as you know. I know you and Mr. Black are fairly good friends," Davidson said, sounding somewhat suspicious.

This time Paul kept his mouth shut - he wasn't about to expose what he was actually doing, exposing Jacob in the process and whatever their little plan was.

"Well fine, since you don't want to answer that question, maybe you should answer my initial question. Did you sexually harass Ms. Brandon and are you on something?" Davidson pressed.

"No, of course not. I never sexually harassed her and I'm not _on_ anything either. If you don't believe me, you can even search me," Paul told him.

"I think I will," Mr. Davidson stated.

He grabbed Paul's bag and began rifling through it. He removed binders and books and finally pulled out a small clear bag with some white powder in it. It looked a lot like something from Emmett's stash...

Davidson held it up to Paul. "So you're not using huh?" Davidson said.

"I swear, that's not mine," Paul said, looking at Alice.

"And where would it have come from? Cocaine fairies? Your just lucky that your father is a senator, otherwise, I'd be calling the police in for an arrest," he informed Paul. "Don't worry Alice, he will not bother you anymore, rest assure," Davidson told Alice, patting her shoulder again.

Alice mouthed a thank you to him as he walked towards his office.

"Come on Paul, we've got to some _things_ to talk about... including the duration of your suspension and what else you are lying about," he said as he walked through his office door.

The crowds had finally dwindled down and it was now just Paul, Embry, Emmett, Alice and I in the hall now.

"I think it's over _now_," Alice told Paul quietly, with a smug grin on her face as he walked towards the office.

Embry gave us a look and then went in the opposite direction of where we were standing, not wanting to be Alice's next victim.

The three of us just looked at each other and started laughing.

"Bravo," I told Alice.

"Thank you," she answered me back.

"Did you just get someone else expelled, again?" Emmett asked.

Alice scrunched her face like she does when she was thinking about something, and then her face dropped a little. "No, I just think he'll get suspended, but hopefully the drugs plus the harassment will get the school to issue a restraining order on him for me," she said, sounding a little disappointed that she couldn't add another expulsion to her record. "But maybe they will get me bodyguards instead," Alice said, with a hint of optimism in her voice.

"Well, I guess you don't need our protection then," I chuckled.

"Don't worry, I'll give you guys the next one. I wouldn't want to strip away your manlihood or anything," she joked.

"And next time, could you use somebody _else's_ stash?" Emmett asked her.

"Just think of it as your good deed for the day - you were helping the higher purpose. Maybe the reason you were carrying today was so that I could plant that on Paul," Alice told him.

"Uh huh... Well at least next time tell me what you are planning. And you're becoming an expert pickpocket you know - in no time you'll be a total pro," Emmett said.

"Lying, acting, pickpocket.... You know, you are kind of an evil genius," I told her.

Alice beamed at this comment. "Thank you!" she said as she and Em slipped into their next class.

"See ya at lunch," Emmett got out before the door shut on them.

Now it was time to actually get to my class - at this point all of my classes started merging together: they were all the same, one big academic cluster-fuck. I looked to the clock against the wall, 10:15...which meant that is was my class with Bella! Fuck! I was already five minutes late. I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible and I had already wasted five minutes - well, it wasn't exactly wasted; I did enjoy watching Paul get his ass handed to him by that little pixie cousin of mine.

I quickened my steps, trying to get to class as fast as possible. Hopefully, if anyone saw me they would just think that I was in a hurry to get to class, though, that would ruin my street cred a little: Edward Cullen does not rush for anything, especially class. Fuck it, at this point, I could really care less of what other people thought of me.

I made it to class and silently slid in the back entrance. I looked towards the front, trying got see if I would be able to avoid Ms. Foster. Luckily, we had a sub. I think she was one of the teachers who taught beginning French.

I quietly took my seat next to Bella. Even stressed out and agitated she still looked absolutely perfect. She was still wearing the necklace I gave her for Christmas, so hopefully that was a good sign. She looked over at me as she ran a hand through her hair, giving me a small smile, which I more than happily returned. This had really been our only interaction since "the incident".

Bella raised her hand, causing the sub to walk over to her. "Mrs. Gibson, since my partner has now arrived, would it be alright if we practiced our conversations in the study lounge?" Bella asked politely.

Mrs. Gibson pursed her lips. "I don't know dear - the rest of the class might want to go too if I let you two go," she answered back.

I looked at Bella, trying to read her expression and figure out what her motives were behind getting us out of class, but I got nothing. Again, if this were _anyone_ else, I would have no problem figuring this out, but Bella always kept me guessing.

"You know I wouldn't normally ask," Bella replied with a sweet smile, "it's just with _everything_ going on, all the noise in here is giving me a headache and I wouldn't want that to turn into a migraine. I hope you understand".

Mrs. Gibson shook her head, taking in what Bella just told her. "Well, I wouldn't want you to get sick - you've got to keep your strength up to deal with these parasites that are after you. Go ahead. Just be quiet as you go down the hall," she said, giving Bella a warm smile back.

"Thank you Mrs. Gibson. I really appreciate this," Bella told her, quickly patting her arm as she got up from her desk.

"Come on, let's go," she told me, as she walked out the door, not bothering to wait.

Another mixed signal. This could just be the fact that she's trying to keep up our facade or there could be something more to this. I just needed to relax, stop freaking myself out. I wanted to talk, and now we were going to. And I'm sure that everything was going to end well... I hoped.

I picked up my stuff and followed Bella out the door. She was waiting outside for me. As soon as she saw me she started walking. I quickened my step to catch up to her. We walked side by side silently to the study lounge, neither of us looking at each other. I got to the door first, holding it open for her.

Bella just gave me a small nod and tight smile, instead of an actual thank you. Was this a bad sign too? Cause it definitely didn't seem good... Then again, maybe I was just reading into things too much like I had been all day.

I was really getting sick and tired of doubting myself and what was going on. What was up with all my confusion? Where was the Edward I was used to - you know the suave, charming, self-assured person that had no self confidence issues; I was seriously lacking some self esteem at the moment. All of this because of a fucking conversation and some possible mixed signals, that scared the crap out of me. Come on Cullen: suck it up and man up.

There weren't too many people in the study lounge, but there were enough so that we wouldn't be able to actually talk.

Bella had walked over to the most isolated corner in the lounge which was housing a couple underclassmen who probably had a free period. They looked slightly in awe or terrified that Bella was actually going over to them.

"We need this area," Bella told them, surprised that they didn't get the hint that they were supposed to move when she initially walked over.

The sophomores just sat there dumbfounded, looking at Bella, as if they didn't understand what she was telling them.

"Now," Bella ordered them, dropping her bag on the ground and sitting in the oversized lounge chair.

I made a motion with my head, signaling them to leave as well, which they finally took. They quickly grabbed their stuff and scrambled out of the lounge.

Well at least that got rid of some of the people in here.

Bella pulled her hair into a ponytail and looked down at her French notebook. "So which conversation do you want to do first, pratique un ou deux?" she asked me.

"What?" I asked, confused, taking a seat next to Bella in the other chair.

"Which sample conversation do you want to do first?" she asked me again.

I tried to keep my composure because I was completely surprised that she actually wanted to do school work. "No, I understand the question. I just thought that you wanted to talk about other things since we left class and all," I answered her, quietly.

She let out a small sigh. "Well I wanted to leave class because I just wanted to get out of class and I saw the opportunity with Gibson here - I was one of her favorites. And I do want to talk, I really do. But this isn't the time - not at school," she explained, equally, if not quieter.

"Then let's just leave," I blurted out.

I hadn't meant to actually say that. That was what I was feeling and wanted to do every day since all of this crap started, but never actually thought about really leaving. It wasn't that I was concerned with missing class or anything of that sort, I just didn't want to deal with why I ditched and all that touchy feely crap when I got home and had to deal with Dad and Esme.

"We can't just go. Well, I can't just go..." Bella said, mostly likely she was thinking out loud.

"It's healthy to ditch class now and then, you know. I would say even more right now, given the circumstances," I told her, trying to convince her to go.

In fact, it probably wasn't better for her to leave at the moment. School was safe: no cameras and no paparazzi. Leaving, especially with me, would leave her exposed and lead to even more questions. It was a selfish move, but I wanted my time with Bella. I needed it. And, I think I deserved it as well. It would be tricky to get her out, but it could be done.

She looked at me skeptically, trying to figure out if this would actually work. "I don't know," she said, biting her lip.

I took a chance and moved my hand on top of hers on the arm of the chair. It was a risk because this was really the first actual public gesture either of us had ever made towards the other person. It wasn't a huge, grandiose, gesture; in fact to an onlooker it would just look as if I accidentally put my hand on the wrong arm rest since the chairs were directly next to each other - but this would be bigger for Bella; she knew what it actually meant.

"Do you think I would let anything happen?" I asked her quietly.

She stiffened a little and was gazing down at my hand. It wasn't like this was something that was completely foreign to her. I touched her all the time, but the fact that this was so open I think freaked her out a little bit. But still she didn't retract her hand, which was a good sign.

She finally looked up at me and nodded. "Ok, let's go," she answered back.

She grabbed her bag, not bothering to put her notebook in. I grabbed my bag, as well, and both of us made our way towards the door. I tried to figure out how exactly we were going to get out of here unnoticed. We couldn't simply walk out together, that would simply be asking for trouble, but I wasn't exactly sure how else to leave either.

Bella grabbed for the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked, unsure of what she was planning.

"I'm going to the nurse. My head's gotten a lot worse," she explained, holding her head and exiting the study lounge.

I followed her out, taking her lead. She was waiting outside the door, this time she waited for me to join her instead of just walking ahead.

"Diversion?" I asked, slightly confused.

"No, witnesses. If I'm leaving, there should be some sort of reason that you are coming with me," she explained with a smirk.

I smiled back, nodding in agreement of her little scheme. She had concocted a plan already: she'd play up her "migraine" and then there was her excuse to go home.

Again, we walked in silence to the nurses office. This time, though, I felt a little more relieved; like the fear of impending doom was no longer on me. Bella looked a little more relaxed as well, happier maybe... Or maybe I just wanted to think that, which was a likely possibility.

We made it to the nurses office and I paused outside. "Let me do all the talking. You just try to appear sickly," I told her, trying to hold in a small chuckle.

"Alright... I'll try," she said holding back a small laugh as well.

I opened the door, allowing Bella to go in first. She immediately took the nearest seat, holding her head in her hand and closing her eyes - she didn't necessarily look sick, but she didn't exactly look healthy either.

"Mr. Cullen? Ms. Swan? What seems to be the problem?" Nurse Granger asked.

I took Nurse Granger to the side, so that it would be less noisy for Bella - or to give the appearance of that. "Bella and I are partners in French. We were working on our conversational drills and Bella got sick. She thinks that it might be a migraine, so it would be best if we kept our voices down," I explained.

Nurse Granger looked over at Bella, and as if on cue, Bella let out a small whimper.

"Well, she doesn't look good. Thank you for bringing her in. I'll take care of her from here, Edward. You can go back to class now," she told me.

Go back to class? Well, I didn't see that one coming. Even though I didn't want to leave, there was nothing that I could really do or think of at the moment to get out of this...

"Ok. Well, feel better Bella," I told Bella, opening the door to leave.

Bella caught on instantly. She was probably already five steps ahead of me. "Wait," she called out.

I stopped myself midway walking through the door, and walked back in the nurse's office, closing the door. I paused before saying anything, waiting to see what Bella's next move was going to be, because she was clearly running the show.

"I need to get home and take my migraine meds so that it doesn't get any worse," Bella started.

"Oh. Do you need Edward to get your car, dear?" Nurse Granger asked.

Bella smiled weakly at her. "No, I rode to school with Emmett. And both my parents are away on business, so I need a ride home... If Edward wouldn't mind," Bella continued.

I paused for a moment, so it wouldn't seem to Nurse Granger that I was jumping on the chance to take Bella home. "No, I wouldn't mind," I told them both, playing my role as the helpful classmate.

"Ok then. I'll excuse you both for the rest of the afternoon. Do either of you have anything that needs to be turned in before you leave? I can give it to your teachers if you'd like," Nurse Granger asked.

Both of us shook our heads.

"Thank you for your assistance Edward," Nurse Granger said, smiling and semi-flirting with me.

I just nodded my head politely back. At this point I was quite used to the majority of the teachers and other women around Forks flirting with me. It was usually innocent and harmless, so there was no reason for me to be a dick back to them. I guess I just bring out their inner cougar.

"And Bella, I hope you feel better," she said.

Bella and I walked out of the nurse's office and out to the parking lot. Everyone was still in class, so the halls were empty. At some point people would know that we both left, but there would be no direct evidence that Bella and I actually left together, which was good. Luckily, I had parked relatively close so that would also help us with a quick escape from school, going unnoticed from our classmates. This also helped with the paparazzi which seemed to double in size at the entrance from the school since this morning.

"So are we just going to drive out?" I asked Bella, putting on my Ray Bans.

"Well, unless you can think of another way of getting to your house..." she teased.

" Ha Ha. I mean aren't you concerned about _them_ getting a picture of the two of us leaving together?" I asked.

"Not particularly. We have an alibi. Remember, I'm sick. And where else do you go when you're sick? To the doctor. There just happens to be one at your house. Besides, I'd just _love_ to give Jacob a great picture to see in the morning. The perfect way to start your day, don't you think?" she said, sort of to herself.

So this was all about Jake? Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was just a pawn in their sick relationship.

"But I understand if you don't want to get involved. I wouldn't want the press hounding me or anything. And I would never want to do that to you or put you in that situation, when you don't have to," she said sincerely as she got into the car.

I smiled to myself. So maybe I wasn't a pawn in their relationship after all.

"Don't worry about it," I told her warmly, getting into the car as well. "Bring em on," I said with a laugh.

"No, I don't just want to throw you in there. Are you sure? It's a lot to ask for," she asked, seriously, looking into my eyes and placing her hand on mine.

She was concerned about me. She didn't want to put me through this and that came through loud and clear. With this small gesture and that one look all my fears were ameliorated - there was nothing for me to have been worried about. Bella hadn't planned on Jake showing up. She didn't even want him there. How could I have ever have doubted her on this? Doubted her feelings? Me and my fucking insecurities - this is what this girl did to me, made me a freakin hypochondriac.

I sat there for a minute taking this in, her genuine concern for me. But my hesitation must had worried her because she started fumbling with the seat so that she could sink down and hide while we were driving out.

I quickly moved my hand across her lap to get her to stop fumbling with the seat and looked her in the eye. "Of course I don't mind. Bella, I would do anything for you, whether that means hanging out at home doing nothing but eating ice cream out of cartons and wearing sweats or facing a media frenzy like the one we are about to go into. Bring on the crazy rumors and the paparazzi going through my trash," I told her.

She had a gigantic smile plastered across her face, while somehow looking like she was about to cry and still managing to remain somewhat composed somehow. She was a very complex girl.

I hoped all these emotions were a good thing.

"You know if we weren't in the school parking lot, where people with telescopic lenses sat lurking about a mile away, I would kiss you right now," she told me.

"Well then, we need to get home right away," I joked, starting the car.

There was a twinkle in her eye. "Aw, fuck it," she said, reaching across her seat and mine and surprising me with a kiss.

So much for the covert hand touch in the study lounge that I was worried about; she had just upped our PDA ante with this kiss. It wasn't long, in fact it could hardly be called more than a peck, but it was just what I needed at the moment. It was just what we both seemed to need at the moment. With this, I knew that everything was going to be alright.

Once she was settled back in her seat, I put the car in drive, heading towards the school gates. As soon as the gates were slightly opened, there were a mass of cameras around the car. There was no way out yet because the gates hadn't opened fully: it was enough to let a person though, but not a car.

For a second I thought about ramming the gate, to just get through as quick as possible, but then scratched that when I remembered the amount of damage Eric had done a couple months back on his car when he drunkenly thought it would be a good idea to ram the gate. His car was nearly totaled.

So I just had to wait.

Bella sat there, holding her head in her hand - keeping the sick facade alive. But she might not be faking.

"You are alright, right?" I asked, concerned.

"Yea, I'm fine. I've just got a little bit of a headache, nothing an aspirin and some alone time won't fix," she said with a half smile and covering her eyes from the camera flashes.

Finally, the gates were completely opened. At my first chance I gunned my way out the gates from the school and down the street before any of the media could get in their cars and follow. That was the benefit of having a Vanquish instead of a Hummer: speed and agility instead of just having a freaking tank.

And then we were completely clear. No one following us. No one even knowing where we were going, aside from Emmett who I had texted on our way to the car. Bella seemed to perk up over this fact. She was finally alone - well sort of. She rolled down the window, but quickly rolled it back up.

I looked over at her, slightly confused.

"You know, you can't really appreciate something until its gone; like the ease of rolling a window down, never thought I would miss that. I hadn't been able to do that for the past couple of days, so I wanted to. Then I remembered how fucking cold it is outside..." she explained, reaching to turn on the heater.

"I see," I said with a chuckle.

"So about this talk..." Bella began.

After the moment we had just had in the parking lot_, _I didn't need to have this talk anymore - in fact I kinda didn't want to have it. We were good in my book and I knew where we stood. There was really no reason to rehash what happened on New Years, it would probably just make me upset.

"It's ok. We don't need to discuss that," I told her, dismissively.

"You're right, we don't have to have the talk, but I want to. You deserve to know what happened that night," she continued.

I coincidentally pulled into my driveway just before she brought this topic up. I parked the car in front, just in case there was some monumental discovery or something; I didn't want to end up crashing into a tree or anything.

"Ok, let's talk, but don't feel like you _have_ to tell me. What you want to tell me is up to you. No pressure," I told her again.

"Believe me. I know I don't have to, but I want to tell you. You are the only person that I care about knowing the truth, everyone else can make up whatever story they would like, but you should know what actually went down that night. I don't want there to be anything between us," she said, pausing and interlacing our fingers.

She arched her eyebrows as if she was asking me if she should go on. Or if I believed what she was telling me. Either way, it was a yes to both. I nodded my head, signaling her to proceed.

She squeezed my hand the moment before she began. I didn't know if it was for reassurance or for what was about to come, but it was comforting.

"It all happened so fast, yet slow, if that makes any sense at all," she began.

"After you left so you could get napkins to dry off your pants, it was like the countdown had already started - at least it did in my head. It was a countdown to when you would be back. The longer you were away, it seemed like the slower time was moving - even though at that point you had only been gone for a few seconds," she explained, taking a breath.

"And then the actual countdown started and it seemed like everything flipped. Instead of time going even slower, it sped up - at least for me. I looked for you from every angle, but the way you initially left and the other ways I could see to get through seemed to close off because more people had come to the dance floor for the ball drop. There were really a lot of people who had smushed into such a small space," she said pausing again.

This time I squeezed her hand for reassurance, because I could tell that this part was getting harder for her. This pause was not like the others she had taken, for a breath or just to readjust in her seat. This was a bigger pause and it seemed harder for her to pick up from where she had left off.

This pause caused the already large knot in my stomach, which had been forming since New Years, to become even bigger. This part of the story was probably what was causing the knot to form in the first place. I needed to hear this; hopefully, hearing it would make the knot go away. I just really, _really_ didn't want to.

"I was worried that you weren't going to make it back in time. I wanted you to be my New Years Kiss - it would have been the perfect way for us to usher in our year together. And that's why I was kinda, sorta, freaked out that you weren't there yet. Call it superstitious, or whatever you want, but I thought if you weren't there that it was some kind of sign or bad luck," she somewhat mumbled.

I was going to say something, interject that it wasn't bad luck, just bad timing, but I didn't want to interrupt Bella. She was on a roll and I knew this was the part that she was dreading to say; I didn't want to drag it out any longer than necessary.

"Then the numbers were getting closer to one, and you still weren't there. And then it was down to one and someone spun me around and kissed me," she said, letting go of my hand and retreating to her side of the car.

As soon as I heard that particular someone had kissed her, that gigantic knot in my stomach tightened even more and again I felt that familiar nauseous feeling I got whenever I thought of Bella with someone else.

Bella wasn't crying, but her overall demeanor had changed, as had the tone of the conversation. "I thought it was you - I mean who else would it have been? I closed my eyes and went with it, because, like I said, I thought it was you. Midway through, though, I knew something was different. The kiss was familiar, but it wasn't the way that you kiss me and I knew it. I pulled away immediately and saw that it was Jacob. Instinctively, I got as far away from him as possible. I backed away, so that there was no way that we were touching, but it was already too late. The kiss had happened and there was nothing I could do to take it back; _our_ midnight kiss was ruined. I had no idea he was coming or that he would even be in town. I didn't want that. I didn't want him, but somehow, again, the two of us ended up together on yet again another fucking New Year's Eve," she explained.

As she told this part of the story I could feel myself getting more and more upset, no longer nauseous, but more like I wanted to beat the crap out of someone. I wanted to take away that memory, to bury it far, far away, and replace it with _our_ own. I didn't blame Bella, she hadn't done anything wrong. I blamed that douche. But like she said, there was nothing that could be done. We just need to move forward from this. That didn't mean, though, that at the first opportunity I had I wouldn't rip Jake's fucking head off.

"As soon as I really realized what was going on I got Mike and Emmett, who threw him and the rest of his little posse out of the party. But what was done was done. I felt awful about it. I still feel awful. And that led me to do the whole avoidance thing from you, from that night until now. And that wasn't hard since I've had the press on my ass since then. I knew Jacob called them that night and told them the whole story - he wanted me back at any cost, or at least wanted me away from you... I'm pretty sure he knows something is going one with us, otherwise this _whole thing_ would be so damn elaborate and complicated. I think he's trying to prove some sort of crazy ass point. What that point is, though, I'm not sure. So that's the whole thing - why I've been avoiding and why I feel completely awful about the whole situation," she finished.

I sat there for a minute taking all of this in. It was a lot. After I had a little time to think about it, I reached over and took her hand, pulling her closer to me. I intertwined our fingers with one hand and cupped her face in my other, giving her a gentle kiss. A couple tears escaped her somewhat composed face. I wiped them away for her. "Bella, it's ok, really," I started.

"No, it's not. I feel awful," she whimpered.

"You shouldn't," I said, trying to comfort her. "There's no reason for you to feel bad. _You_ are not the guilty party here. You didn't want him there. You didn't want anything to do with him, he just showed up - you can't blame yourself. I won't let you. This is not _your _fault," I told her softly.

"I understand you feeling guilty and not wanting to talk to me, but there is no reason for that. Now we've talked about it and can move past this, right?" I asked her.

She weakly nodded her head. She was just so vulnerable at the moment; this was not acceptable for Jake to make her feel like this and he needed to pay.

I squeezed her hand again. "And you know, your little theory about us having bad luck or whatever since we weren't together at midnight can't come true, because I was there with you, you just couldn't see me," I told her.

"What?" she asked, confused.

Now was my time to confess.

"I was there. I was behind you. Jake saw me, so I think your presumption that he knows something is up is right. I saw everything . But the thing was, I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know if you knew Jake was going to be there or if you wanted to kiss him. Either way, I should have done something that night, but I guess I was a little in shock. But I had been too late. I had gotten to you exactly at midnight and Jake was just about to kiss you. And then it happened, and I wasn't sure what to do," I explained to her.

"So you saw..." she started softly, looking away from me.

I could sense that she blamed herself even for this; she blamed herself for my timing. She felt guilty.

She didn't sound mad that I was there or didn't do anything, it just sounded like she was working things out for herself; putting the puzzle pieces together, so to speak.

As much as she felt guilty, I felt just as bad, if not worse. Especially knowing the whole situation now, I felt awful - that I had let her down in some way. I had just let him kiss her. I had ruined our kiss, just as much as Jake did, by not doing anything and now I needed to make that up to her.

"Yea, I saw everything but didn't know the context. I'm not going to lie; it killed me to see you with him," I told her.

She took a deep breath in an attempt to get her lip from trembling - it was like I had stabbed her in the gut with what I just told her. "I'm so sorry you saw that," she started, getting worked up again.

The fact that Jake had worked Bella up into this emotional wreck and has made her think and feel like she is the guilty party here, when it was clearly him, was unacceptable.

"Bella, you have absolutely _nothing_ to apologize for," I told her.

I wanted to make her forget that any of this even happened. I needed to do this, not only for her, but for both of us.

I moved closer to her still, at least as close as you could be in a car with a shifter between you. I took a deep breath in. Her scent engulfed me: the smell of her hair mixed with her perfume was intoxicating - she as my own personal brand of heroin. And I couldn't get enough.

I drew closer to her until our lips finally met. This kiss started slow and subsequently deepened and intensified with each second that passed. Nothing else mattered at this moment except Bella. I moved my hands around her back, trying to pull her closer.

This was the kiss that we both wanted; the kiss we expected. _This_ should have been our New Years kiss. This kiss solidified us - it burned away the memory of Jake and Bella and just left the memory of us in its place.

It was becoming harder to breath but I didn't care; if I died right now, it would have been the perfect way to go. One of Bella's hands was in my hair and the other was wrapped around my tie pulling me closer to her. It seemed like she had the same idea, that this kiss voided out the one that she had with Jake.

This moment was my redemption to her, my apology. And it was also my big fuck you to Jake. She was _my_ girl, and fuck anyone who was going to try and take her away. I meant something to her now, I was sure of it. She wanted me. She chose me. And as long as she'd have me, I would be there for her.

I was one lucky bastard.

Finally, neither of us could take it any longer and pulled away. We were both out of breath and slightly panting, but it was utterly worth it.

"How did you end up here?" I asked her, with raised eyebrows and laughing.

Somehow, Bella had made her way from the passenger seat to my lap.

She shrugged and then snuggled into my chest. "I'm not really sure. I might have climbed or you might have pulled me. Or it might have been a little of both," she said with a mischievous smile. "Either way, I'm quite happy with the end result."

I hugged her closer into me and kissed the top of her head. "Me too," I said, smiling to myself.

"So all this stuff, it's in the past. Let's move forward now," I said, looking down at her.

"You're right. There's nothing holding us back now," she said, smiling up at me.

"Good," I said, smiling back at her. "Now, let's get you inside so that you can get that Tylenol to get rid of that headache before everyone shows up. I texted Em, so they'll probably be over once school and football's over," I told her.

She smiled wider at me now. "That sounds fantastic," she said reaching over giving me a lingering peck.

She opened the door, hopping off my lap. "You know you're kind of wonderful, right?" she said walking towards the house.

A large grin spread across my lips with this lovely utterance of hers. I slowly got out of the car, grabbing our stuff from the backseat.

She just sat there waiting for me. I looked over at her and just smiled to myself, again. I was really lucky to have her in my life. As much as I felt like a fucking crazy person around her, the craziness just made sense. She drove me nuts, but in a good way - if that even made sense.

And now I was even thinking like her; I never said "if that even makes sense", because I _always_ make sense. I'm normally the infallible and articulate Edward Cullen - but not around Bella. When I'm with her, it's like I'm a blubbering buffoon.

Which could only mean one thing - that I was in love with her.

It just hit me there, standing there holding all of our stuff, in front of my house. It hit me like a ton of fucking bricks. That were made of gold. With elephants standing on top of them. How did it take me so long to figure this out? How could I not have known this? I feel like this is something that I would have known about or at least figured out sooner. Maybe I knew all along, but didn't want to actually admit it to myself for the fear that I would lose her: losing her through not feeling the same way and rejecting me. This is the reason I would get flustered around her and flip out over every small thing. This was the reason for my fucking paranoia around her and everything miniscule thing that involved Bella. It was all because I was in love with her.

"Edward? You ok?" Bella asked, walking over to me, placing her arms around my waist and giving me a quick kiss.

I must have just been standing there staring out into space for a couple minutes while I came to this revelation - which I think was warranted, but probably freaked out Bella. I mean when you just figure out that you love the girl standing next to you, I think you should be able to take a minute to yourself...

"I'm good, no worries," I told her with a doofy look on my face and a crooked smile.

I looked at her again and couldn't believe it had taken me so long to figure this out. I was _absolutely_ crazy about this girl.

I loved Bella Swan.

And then my throat got very dry and that knot, which had gone away with that miracle kiss, had come back with a vengeance.

Now the only thing I needed to do was tell _her_ that. And _that_ scared the shit out of me.

**so what did you guys think? did you like it as much as i hoped you would? drop me a line, review, pm, messenger pigeon... you know, whatever floats your boat. i love hearing from you.**

**so this chapter kinda had a theme song, but i couldn't post it earlier because it would have given the cahpter away. its i and love and you, by the avett brothers. the song rocks, they rock, its all good. so if you get a chance check em out cause i love them.**

**also, finally got a theme song for edward, which is on my home page, if you all want to check it out.**

**so the next chapter's going to be a little different, there's a bit of a twist. nothing bad, i promise you. ;)**


	23. Sweatshirt

**soo, but you guys did think i would update this fast huh? i think, its been a week... kinda maybe, lol. this chapter's a wee bit shorter than the others have been, mostly because i'm breaking this chapter into two. so this would be part one, i suppose....lol**

**so i went with something a little different, this chapter's from Emmet's POV - so i hope you all like it and it fits the flow of the rest of the story.**

**thank you, yet again, for all of you who have commented/reviewed, all the comments are greatly appreciated! and another BIG thank you to tcg and amandacullen84 - you guys rock my world.**

**Disclaimer: (since i haven't done in a while) twilight, not mine... **

Emmett POV

"Alice! Get your tiny ass in the car, we've gotta get to Rose's," I yelled at her from across the parking lot.

Cheer had just gotten out, as did football, and I was in a hurry to leave. I was tired, I was hungry, and I was just ready to leave. Rose and Jasper had left earlier because Jazz was helping out with the charity committee and refused to hang around until the end of cheer waiting for his sister. So now I was just hanging around waiting for Alice to finish up her conversation with Emily and some of the other girls on the squad so that we could leave.

For someone who doesn't like associating with the "commoners", as she likes to put it, she sure was spending a lot of time with them at the moment. I swear, sometimes, I think this whole superiority thing around the other kids at school is just an act and she _actually_ likes them.

She briefly looked over at me, holding up a finger, and then going back to her conversation. This _must_ be some intense cheer stuff...

I got into my baby, my Hummer H2, warming her up - it was awful to just start driving before warming up the engine. Big Momma, as I warmly called her, needed just as much TLC as Rose did, well, almost as much, and she was going to be pissed if we weren't at her house soon.

With all this Bella business goin on, Rosalie and I hadn't spent a lot of time together. Our little group was trying to be as supportive and there for Bella as we could, which was fine, but kinda detracted from our individual lives a little. So today Rosie and I were going to be having out alone time, or, as I liked to call it, the clothing optional hours.

But we needed to get there first and Alice was still sitting there chatting away.

This wasn't gonna fly; once Alice was on a role, who knew how long I would actually be waiting for her. I put the car in drive and silently inched closer to her. When I was close enough, and had made sure she hadn't spotted me, I honked the horn for a couple seconds, causing both her and Emily to jump in the air a couple of feet. The rest of the girls must have seen this coming because they didn't even flinch.

"Stop it you fucker!" Alice yelled at me.

Hysterical! That had brightened my craptastic day. That, and Paul getting suspended.

"I'll stop when you actually get in the car," I retorted and hovered my hand over the horn, threatening to honk the horn yet again.

Even with Bella gone, the school was still abuzz; in fact, it was worse than when she was actually there. With her gone it was like the school had free reign to say whatever they wanted, which was a lot. People talked openly about the things that were going on with her and Jake: whether there was something going on with them and what exactly the truth was, since the media frenzy showed up the exact same time that Jacob did. No one was really coming up to me much, to ask about Bella directly or to see what the situation was, but people spoke openly around me. They weren't going to actually say anything, because they probably didn't want a fist in their faces, but a lot of people were treading on thin ice.

Psych was my only saving grace for the day. In every other class, once word was given that Bella was gone, everyone seemed like they wanted to inform me of all the crazy fuckin rumors: I even heard one that I was involved in some sort of crazy orgy with the two of them and Rosalie. That was the only time that I actually responded to something someone said, because it was just _that_ridiculous. In Psych, though, Dr. Leonard threatened the class that if any Bella news was uttered, even the mention of her name, they would be sent to the principal's office, and suspension for the rest of the week would start immediately. She was looking out for Bella, which I thought was really cool. She really was a chill teacher, Bella had said it before, but now I totally understood why.

The door popped open and the little midget hoisted herself in. "Was the honking _really_ necessary?" she questioned me.

I let out a laugh. "No, but it was funny," I answered back.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Whatever. Just drive," she responded, buckling up.

She didn't need to tell me twice; we were off before she finished her sentence.

"Soo, what was so important that you needed to hold a cheer pow wow, after a freakin two hour practice, that kept us here even _longer_?" I asked.

"Which uniforms to wear for the football game this weekend," she told me with a serious look.

"_Well_, I know how important that is," I said, rolling my eyes.

"It's more important than you think, my dear. Besides, do you want to hear Rose bitch about the outfits for the next two days, because I sure as hell don't," Alice said, matter-of-factly.

That was a good point. Rosalie wasn't known to keep her opinions to herself, and when no one else would sit there listening to her go off about their wardrobe selection, _I_ was expected to. Because, of course, Alice would just tune her out, Jasper and Edward would laugh in her face if she actually tried to talk to them about something as trivial as cheer uniforms, and she wasn't exactly going to bother Bella at the moment with unflattering outfit choices when she clearly had bigger things to worry about. So that just left me. Whoopee. I even had to pretend that I was interested in this crap... or at least act like I was paying attention to what she was saying.

"Alright, I suppose that's ok then," I said, cracking Alice a smile.

"As I thought it would be," she replied back to me.

We drove through the gates at the entry way of the school. Hardly any photographers were left; they must have been tipped off, or saw, that Bella wasn't at school anymore. And, thankfully, the press which hounded us this morning, seemed absolutely disinterested with us now. I don't think that I could take another high speed chase at the moment. I didn't know how Bella dealt with this - we were on the sidelines of this whole thing and it was rough, but it had to be even harder for her.

School had been rough. Practice was even harder. And the last thing I needed at the moment was paparazzi stalking my ass. All I wanted to do was get to Cullen's ASAP and see Rosalie. I would feel _much_ better then.

Man, I had become so utterly whipped by Rosie that it wasn't even funny, but I guess that's what happens when you're in looooooveee. And that was a hard thing to think about, much less say, though I knew it was true. The boy who'd been tryin to fuck anything that moved since he was basically old enough to know girls didn't have cooties was now in a serious, committed relationship... in love.

_No one_ would have guessed this in a million years. Unless, maybe, that was a sign of the apocalypse or something.

"You're awfully quiet," Alice stated.

"Is that some sort of crime?" I asked.

"No, just unusual. What are you thinking about? And... if you say Rosalie, I'm going to hurl. Right here. Right now," she said.

I reached down the steering wheel and turned up the volume on the radio louder. I was a horrible liar, so it was better to just avoid the truth altogether.

"Seriously Em? You need to get a hobby or something - something not Rosalie related, AT ALL," she told me. "But I guess we should just be happy this isn't some sort of phase, because if it were, I think Jasper might actually just kill you."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh please, woman. Like he could ever take me," I told her confidently.

"Under normal circumstances I would agree with you, but when it comes to you fucking his sister, and just that - no relationship, no nothing - he would _destroy_ you. Do you understand, _destroy you_! He would absolutely lose it. Do you even remember Halloween, because I do. He went freakin postal," she said, a little too enthusiastically.

Glad she has the utter most confidence in me... But she did make a good point.

"Well, we won't have to worry about that now, will we," I told her.

"Well, _I_ definitely won't have to. I'm not the one he's going to be upset with," she said with a chuckle.

We were then at the Cullen gates. We waited for the gates to open and then proceeded up the driveway to the house.

"Did Bella say she was ok?" Alice asked.

I bit my lip, unsure. "Um, I'm dunno. I didn't actually talk to her. Edward was the one who told me that they had left. So, I'm assuming that she wasn't feeling well, because I don't know any other reason that they would come to his house instead of hers, or why he would even go with her, if she was feeling ok," I said.

Alice nodded. "Yea, maybe she has the flu or something," she said, opening the car door and jumping out.

She was too short to touch the ground, which I always got a kick out of.

"Dunno," I said, shutting my door as well and walking towards the entryway.

"Guys?" Alice yelled, opening the door to the foyer.

"Kitchen," Bella yelled back.

Well, she at least sounded ok; not sick in the least, so that was good.

Alice and I made our way to the kitchen to meet up with everyone else. Bella, though, was the only one sitting at the island down there sipping a bottle of water.

I scrunched my face, tryin to figure out where exactly Rose was.

"Upstairs," Bella told me, playing with her necklace.

Hmm... Was that new?

"What? You didn't even know what I was thinking," I said.

"Of course I know what you're thinking. It's the same thing you think about allllll the fucking time - Rosalie. It's not like you remember your _best friends_ anymore," Bella said sarcastically and pointing to herself and Alice, as if I needed help remembering who my two best friends actually were.

"What? Of course I remember you guys," I told the two of them.

"Pshha," Alice said. "It's ok, we know where we stand," she continued, joining in with Bella's analysis of the situation.

They both looked a little upset over this.

"Are you guys being serious right now?" I asked, concerned that they were upset with me, with some minor skepticism that they were just fucking with me.

I mean, I had been spending a lot of time with Rosalie, but I didn't think that it was a crazy amount or that I had been ignoring Bella and Alice. But maybe with all the stuff going on with Bella, I had been more focused on Rosalie, when I should have been there for Bells. Now, I felt bad, though, because this wasn't deliberate.

They were silent, looking away from my general direction and then kinda to each other.

"I mean I'm sorry. I'll try..." I began.

Bella laughed. "We're totally not being serious," she said. "Stop being such a woman."

"Yea, grow a pair Em," Alice joined in.

"Of course, when I'm trying to be nice. You guys are assholes, you know that," I told them.

"But we're your favorite assholes, now aren't we," Bella responded with a laugh.

"Maybe...," I replied with narrowed eyes, jacking her water bottle.

"Hey! What? You can't turn around and get your own?" she asked.

"I can. I just _prefer_ yours," I said with a toothy grin.

Alice was staring at Bella's necklace. "Stop it! Stop playing with your necklace. You're going to ruin it if you keep twirling the rings like that," Alice scolded Bella, frowning and swatting her hand away from her neck.

"Jesus, _mom_. It's not like I'm going to break it," Bella told her.

"You _just_ got it; you can wait a couple months before you damage it. I'm just trying to help you out. What would your parents think if they saw that it was broken?" Alice continued.

Bella just stayed silent; it was easier this way when Alice was going off on one of her fashion tirades.

"So your parents got you that for Christmas?" I asked.

Bella just nodded, taking a sip from her water bottle.

"Isn't it great? I wanted this from Cartier for a while now, but Bells got it first. Lucky," Alice said, pouting slightly.

Cartier? I didn't think her parents got anything from there - they usually don't. Bella gave me a rundown of her presents and I thought the only jewelry she got were emerald earrings from Neil Lane. Mike ran down the Christmas list too, and he didn't mention it either. But maybe it as a new edition or a late present or something.

"It's very nice," I told her.

"Thanks," she said. "Anyway, let's go upstairs and join everybody else. I was just down here waiting for your asses to get here."

Alice left first and quickly climbed the staircase. She had shorter legs then the rest of us, but somehow she moved at twice the speed. If she actually liked football, and was a dude, I would say that she would have been the best running back on the team. Bella and I followed behind, going at a normal pace. I stopped her for a moment as we were midway up the stairs.

"Bells, I know you guys were just busting my balls about Rose before, but were you being at all serious?" I asked her.

She looked at me and smiled. "Em, we're both super happy for you and glad that you guys have each other - believe me, Rose is waaaaaaaay better than those other skanks you usually hooked up with. And we get that you want to spend time with her, we're just adjusting to that fact. That you guys are actually together and want to hang out. We just miss ya," she said, linking arms and placing her head on my shoulder.

I made a little note in my head to make some special time for my two favorite girls, without Rosalie or the guys. I did miss hanging out with just them too. Since the Cullens and co moved back to town, it was like we were all expected to hang out all together and at all times, or segregated into our allotted gender breakdowns, never just me and Bella and Alice like it used to be. So the three of us needed to figure out a time when it could just be the three of us, and hang out the way that it used to be. Preferably, when the other three were busy doing other things...

"Ok, I just wanted to make sure," I said, patting her hand that was linked up with my arm.

We continued up the stairs and went into the piano room, where everyone else was situated and just hangin out. Edward was at the piano, just messing around, while the other three were on the couch talking. Bella pulled over a LoveSac and joined them.

"Hey babe," Rosalie said with a smile, patting the spot on the couch next to her.

I went over and gave her a quick peck - nothing too overly mushy after the conversation I just had. She was in her cheer outfit with her hair pulled into a high ponytail; she looked just as drop dead gorgeous as if she were in an evening gown. She was stunning, even though she probably thought she looked "disgusting" at the moment. To me, though, she was perfect.

I had a slight shiver. "Give me a minute, I want to get a sweatshirt. It's fuckin cold up here. What, are you guys Eskimos?" I asked the residents of the house. "I'm gonna grab a sweatshirt or somethin, okay C?" I told Edward as I headed into his actual room.

A sweatshirt _and_ a blanket would be fantastic - it was too cold in this damn house. Now, where did I put that sweatshirt of mine. More so, where would that neat freak have put my sweatshirt? Edward was anal about this room; everything had a proper place and he didn't like anything out of place for too long. He was the most organized male I had ever seen, because my and Jasper's rooms sure as hell didn't look like this. It wouldn't be in the drawers: he didn't like anything "bulky" in there.

"Want some help?" Bella joked, after I stood there for 30 seconds not doing anything.

I nodded sheepishly towards her, kinda embarrassed that I hadn't found the sweatshirt yet. "You check that closet and I'll check this one," I directed her.

She nodded once in agreement.

I opened the door, turning the lights on and walking in. This was his main closet and he had everything organized to a T - like I said, anal. I looked around and finally saw my sweatshirt hanging in the very back. I grabbed it and started out when something grabbed my eye: a small Cartier bag.

Now, this was just coincidental.

There was no reason for this to be suspicious. Edward had lots of shopping bags in the closet and Edward did tend to get a lot of things from Cartier, but I just had to check it out. My inner gossip just needed to quell its curiosity. I knew I wasn't supposed to, but what the hell... I wasn't going to find anything anyway. So there was really no harm in looking then.

I looked in the bag but it was empty. Nothing in it but tissue paper. I picked it up anyway, just in case I had missed anything. At the bottom of the bag, though, there was a receipt. It was for some kinda eternity necklace with a hefty price tag coupled with it.

No.... He wouldn't have.

And Bella's necklace wasn't an eternity necklace, it was just a necklace with three rings on it.

Which was what an eternity necklace was...

"Oh!" I said out loud, with a small gasp.

"Em?" Bella called out.

It _was_ Bella's necklace - that was the only explanation. He hadn't gotten anyone any Christmas presents from Cartier and this had to be a Christmas present bag, because the receipt was dated in December. I looked down yet again to make sure that it was the right year - yup, December 23 of this year.

Now it was all starting to make sense. The Christmas present. The two of them getting along more _and _fighting more. The reason they left school together today, because it sure as hell wasn't because Bella was sick - that girl is totally healthy.

It was all because they were together. Oh. My. God.

"Em, did you find it? I know my closet's a little different than what you're used to, and by that I mean clean and organized," Edward said with a laugh, walking into the closet.

"Yea, did you fall in or something?" Bella joined in, coming into the closet as well.

I was in a state of shock. I didn't know what to say or do.

"You!" I said loudly, and pointing a finger at Bella. "And you!" then pointing at Edward. "_YOU TWO_?!" I said even louder.

"Huh? What'd you say?" Jasper called out from the other room.

Bella and Edward took a minute, looking at each other confused and trying to figure out what I was going on about. And then it clicked. Edward's eyes widened as he shut the door and Bella pounced on top of me, covering my mouth to keep me from saying anything else too loudly.

I kept pointing between the two, like some sort of miming, mute, Sherlock Holmes. After a minute, I finally calmed down a little and reached up, pulling Bella's hand away from my mouth.

"You two!" I exclaimed.

"Shhh! Keep it down," Bella told me.

"You two!" I exclaimed again, but in a whisper this time.

"What us two?" Edward said, trying to diffuse the situation and playing it cool.

I held out the receipt to him. Which he took rather quickly and shoved into his pants; trying to get rid of the evidence.

"So you're snooping through my stuff?" he asked, somewhat amused.

Again, trying to diffuse the situation and distract me.

"That's neither here nor there... Just answer the fucking question: you two?" I reiterated, yet again.

"Yes," Bella finally confirmed.

Edward looked at her, like what the fuck are you doing, but she just shrugged.

"This is so great! I have to tell somebody," I said, quickly walking towards the door.

I was about to bust at the seams; I needed to tell someone about this!

Both Edward and Bella grabbed me and pulled me back, away from the door. From the way they were acting it appeared as if they didn't want me telling anyone.

"No," they both said at the same time.

"But," I started to say.

"No," Bella said, cutting me off.

"Well, how about..." I tried again.

"No," Edward said this time.

I sat there thinking for a moment. "Well, how long has this been going on?" I asked, hoping to get a straight answer.

They both looked away and kinda fidgeted: Edward ran a hand through his hair and Bella tugged on the sleeves of her hoodie, biting on her lip.

"Since LA," Edward answered. "But really just the end of the trip, if that makes you feel any better."

"LA!" I cried out, loudly.

I just couldn't help myself.

"Shut up!" Bella told me, again covering my mouth with her hand.

I pushed her hand away. "Is it serious?" I asked.

"What? Is this twenty-fucking,-questions?" Edward asked.

I raised an eyebrow, trying to get one of them to answer faster.

"Yes, it's serious," Bella replied.

Edward stopped fidgeting and shifting his weight back and forth, finally looked over at Bella. He smiled at her and then reached for her hand, pulling her closer to him.

"Aw," I said.

Ooops, didn't mean to say that out loud. Couldn't help it, it just slipped out. They were too damn cute. Damn relationships turn me into a woman now. I'll probably cry over The Notebook now too.

"Well, now you know. But you can't tell anyone. You have to pretend everything is normal. You can't even think that something is different between the two of us. You've _got_ to play it totally cool. You can't even pretend like you think..." Bella started.

"I think I get it - I'm smarter than I look," I told her, cutting her off.

She must really be concerned about this because she wasn't even making coherent sentences, though, I got the gist of what she was trying to explain.

"We're serious, though, Em. No one can know what's going on, not even Rose, Jasper, and Alice. Especially with everything going on with Jake. We're counting on you to keep our secret," Edward said, almost pleading.

"I dunno guys. You know I'm not good with secre..." I started.

"Please?" Bella asked, pleading with those big brown eyes of her.

Damn puppy eyes.

"Come on man. You know we'd do it for you," Edward said.

How could I turn them down? They were two of my best friends and they needed my help. I had to help them out.

Besides, it's not their fault that I'm some sort or super sleuth.

"Ok. You're secret's safe with me," I told them.

And hopefully that would actually be true.

Bella pounced on me again, this time giving me a huge hug. Once she was done, Edward came over and did the same thing, but in a more manly way.

"K, we better go outside before they get even more curious about what's going on in here," I told them.

Bella opened the door and walked out first, heading towards the bathroom, as an excuse of why it took her this long in Edward's room.

So Bella and Cullen.

This was going to be the hardest fucking secret to keep of my entire life.

**so what did you guys think? did i capture the essence of emmett, and i apologize for the brevity of this chapter, but like i said, its being split in to 2.**

**the next chapter will be similar, in that it won't be from edward or bella's POV, but rather from alice's, started and am in the very early stages of the chapter. **

**also, threw in some film/tv references in this chapter (along with the rest of the previous chapters). did you catch it?**

**will try to get the next chapter out asap. **

**let me know what you think! LOOOOVE hearing from you guys! **


	24. Theories

**hey guys, sorry again for the delayed response time. i know, i said it shouldn't be that long, but it turned out the chapter took longer than expected... and then new moon came out (which i hope everyone has seen) and then i went to vegas, which got me sick, and then thanksgiving. so i got it out as quickly as possible! again BIG apology to you all. **

**another gigantic thank you to tcg and amandacullen84, who assisted greatly in this chapter! again you guys = amazing (and check out their new story while you're waiting for another update)**

**thank you to everyone who has reviewed, commented, pmed, etc...you guys brighten my day :)**

**i took another departure for this chapter, and hope you guys like it. alice was a lot harder to write than i thought she would be - so i hope i got her right.**

**enough talking, enjoy!**

Alice POV

Emmett had been acting far too strange for the past two weeks for something to not be going on. He was hiding something from me, damn it. Everyone else was acting perfectly normal, so whatever he was keeping from me could really be about anyone or anything, which again was somewhat frustrating. This whole thing was really driving me crazy!

This was so fucking aggravating! I sighed loudly, causing everyone around to me look. Whatever, they would get over it. ___I_ was the one who always knew what was going on, what was up - sometimes even before it occurred - I was just that good. And people trusted me, so they came to me first with their secrets, especially within our little circle, and now I was the one out of the fucking loop. What kind of coo coo world is this; that Emmet now knows something that I do not? This would not do; this would not do at all.

I tapped my pen against the lab table ferociously - I had to do something to relieve all this displaced agitation, and I didn't think dragging Jasper into the ASB room for a little alone time would have gone over so well... or been very discreet. Not that he would have probably minded. The thought of another secret tryst made me smile.

Jasper shot me a questioning looking, passing me a note. Maybe he was thinking of the same thing; which would again prove my enhanced capability of knowing the future.

_You ok? Bella looks like she's about to jam that pen into your hand the way you keep taping it._

I frowned a little bit and rolled my eyes; again, my natural inclination of predicting the future had failed me yet again. But his note did make me laugh a little, causing me to silently chuckle. He sure knew how to lighten the mood - well, at least for me he did. We just got each other, which was something I had never had before, at least in a boyfriend. I quickly responded back.

_I'm fine. Just distracted. :) _

I passed the note back to him, giving him a small smile. He just nodded and then went back to his daily two o'clock Chem nap. I had no idea how he was passing, let alone getting better fucking grades than me, when he was always unconscious in class. Damn naturally smart people: he and Edward, jackasses. I shrugged to myself and then went back to the task at hand: semi paying attention to class and, more importantly, cracking Em's secret.

What could it possibly be? Maybe he was going to break up with Rose. That would definitely put him on edge and acting weird. But no... that would _never_ happen. The only way that relationship was going to be over is if Rosalie dumped him - and that seemed highly unlikely. Maybe Rose was pregnant and Emmett was the only other person who knew. He definitely wouldn't handle that well. I pursed my lips thinking; that was a possibility.

Now, _that_ would be a secret! Rosalie _and_Esme preggers at the same time and in the same house - drama! Would she keep it? Would she even tell her parents or the rest of us? I wonder if the baby would be cute, or if it would look like Emmett when he was a baby - cause that wasn't too cute. He was an adorable little boy, but from infancy to about two, he kind of looked like an obese little demon child. I swear his hair even parted like there were little horns there. Rose would be pissed if that were the case.

If this was the secret, I had to break them - it was just too good to be passed up and for me to be left in the dark about. I just needed to figure out if this was the _actual_ secret.

Rose seemed no bitchier than usual, but her boobs had been looking a little bigger, and I've heard that's one of the first noticeable changes, before that unsightly weight gain. If only you could have babies, without gaining any weight, that would be fantastic. Whoever discovered that should get the Nobel Prize or something.

But back to the subject in question, I would need to look more into her developments at practice, because there was no way I could confirm this now.

I had been so lost in my pregnancy theory that I hadn't noticed the class had begun to leave, since class was almost over. I needed to hightail it out of there and get to the locker room asap since Rose was always the first there and dressed since her last class was next to the gym.

"Alice..." Bella started.

I was already packed up and out the door before she had finished saying my name. I didn't mean to be rude, but this was far more important than anything Bella had to say to me at the moment. I rushed down the hallway not stopping for anything. People were trying to get my attention but I totally tuned them out - I was on a mission, could they not sense that? Dumbasses. This was why I didn't like having to socialize with any of them: they were too fucking stupid.

The locker room door was in my sights and I spotted the one person who could thwart my mission: Emmett. Decision time, and it would have to be quick because I was fast approaching him. Should I try to get more info out of Em or stay on course and interrogate Rose? The Jeopardy song started playing in my head; I guess my subconscious wanted me to make up my mind faster too because I hate that fucking music.

"Hey Alice," Emmett said as I approached the door.

I held my hand to his face and continued walking inside - decision made. He'd probably be upset that I simply disregarded him, but he'd get over it. Especially, when I would now be the one protecting _his_ secret.

As I expected, Rosalie was the only one in the locker room. She was already semi-changed, so again, this was working in my favor. But how to approach this? I couldn't just stare at her boobs without her noticing... Well probably not, though, Emmett does it all the time, but maybe she's just used to that by now.

"Hey Alice," Rosalie called out.

I waved at her, before moving next to her and grabbing my stuff from my locker. There was no time to formulate a plan. I was just going to have to wing it.

I started changing as well, but could sense my eyes giving me away as I observed and tried to compare Rose's breast size and weight to what she was about a month ago. But maybe I should have been compared her from earlier on, since I wasn't sure how far along she actually was...

"Um Alice... Now don't take this the wrong way or anything, but why are you checking me out?" she asked, curious, though still changing like normal.

Damn it. I'm usually so good at spying on people. I had to figure out something to say now.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to stare. It's just... Your boobs look a lot bigger," I told her, waiting to see her reaction.

She beamed and looked glad that I had actually noticed this. Maybe she was happy that I had found out. Maybe she didn't want to keep this secret to herself anymore.

"I got this fantastic new sports bra! It really works wonders: it lifts and makes it seem like you are an extra cup size. Isn't it great? You should really get one. In fact, I think that the whole team should get them, give us an edge on the competition - not that the two of us need it. But the other girls..." she exclaimed.

Ok, this was plausible excuse, but what about when she wasn't wearing this sports bra? "Well, I didn't mean now Rose," I said gently, trying to be as comforting as I could, unsure of how she was going to take this comment.

I wanted to make it clear that I was there for her, with what she was going through.

She smiled again. "Really? Well, maybe it does give you an extra cup size, even when you aren't wearing it," she said.

Now, I never said that Rosalie was the sharpest crayon in the box, but even she wouldn't normally say that. Maybe she's just hanging out too much with Emmett, cause that sounds like something that _he_ would say.

"But that wouldn't make sense..." she said, continuing her thought.

And then her eyes got really big. "Am I getting _bigger_? Does it look like I gained weight?" she asked me, panicked and spinning around, so that she could inspect herself.

She looked more like a dog chasing its tail, though.

"Well, if you held still a minute I could tell," I told her, which caused her to stop rotating.

We heard voices coming from outside and some girls from cheer started coming into the locker room.

"OUT!" Rosalie ordered them.

The girls looked up, paused in fear, and then left as quickly as physically possible. Maybe what I had said about the mood swings wasn't exactly true... Even though this wasn't a huge departure from how Rosalie usually treated the team: we were the queens and everyone else were our subjects.

"Well?!" Rose demanded.

"You look ok..." I started.

"_Ok_?" she said, almost disgusted. "What the fuck does _ok_ mean?"

Uh oh...I've unleashed the beast. So it was now or never, although at the moment I was inching closer to the never. Rose can get kinda scary at times. But my intrigue was killing me, I was too close to knowing, so I had to press on.

"Well," I said, scrunching my face, ever so slightly. "It's to be expected. This is what happens..." I started.

"It happens when _what_?" she pressed, getting slightly more worried.

I started my thought, I might as well finish it; especially, since it looks like her head is about to explode. I took a breath. I'd know one way or another is I was right or not.

Now I grew a little unsure of my theory. I took another breath. "When you're pregnant," I said, quicly and quietly.

"When I'm what?!" she exclaimed very loudly; in fact, to others, they probably thought she was screaming at me.

Emmett popped his head in. "Is everything ok?" he asked.

"Get out!" both of us yelled at him.

As quickly as he popped his head in, he popped it out. He probably knew that this wasn't going to end well for him if he tried to mediate what was about to go down.

"You," Rose started again, screaming for sure this time.

"Keep it down" I told her, " or do you want everyone to know?"

"You think I'm _pregnant_?" she growled, a little quieter. "Why? How? _Why_?" she exclaimed, over-emphasizing each of her questions to me.

I wasn't about to expose Emmett's secret, whatever it was, seeing as how I was _probably_ wrong about what I thought he was hiding. I wanted to leave him out of this and I didn't want to clue Rose in on what he was hiding either; I wanted to figure out what his secret was on my own. But now I had to come up with some plausible excuse as to why I thought Rose was pregnant... crap.

"It's just with your boobs getting bigger..." I began.

"But I told you why they look bigger," she exclaimed.

"And you acting like a bitch more..." I continued.

"But I _am_ a bitch," she interjected, cutting me off again.

I made a face at all her interruptions. If she wanted to hear my explanation, she should really stop interrupting me. "_And_ your clothes not fitting properly. I just figured that you were, ya know, pregnant," I concluded.

She took many deep breaths, trying to calm herself, before her next statement. "You _see_ all these things, and the first thing that springs to your mind is _pregnancy_? You couldn't think new bra, boob job, pms, or even, God forbid, weight gain?" she said, again taking another deep breath and trying to remain composed.

"Well..." I said in a high pitched voice, unsure of what to really say without further pissing her off or explaining what got me to this rationale in the first place.

The thought of just explaining everything popped into my head for a brief second, but then quickly faded away. If Rose found out that Emmett was hiding something from her, she would be relentless. She would find out before me, through using her powers over Emmett; which, unfortunately, held a little more clout with him than my techniques would - stupid sexual politics. I would be left out, in the dark, yet again. There was just a hint of a healthy rivalry between Rose and I, but there nothing wrong with that. I just needed to beat her at this; she could have the next one.

"It's more than a little weight gain Rose," I told her gently. "Your uniform has been looking a little tight lately."

So I lied. I had to do it to save my own ass. I knew it was a bitch move, but she'd be fine. A couple more days with her trainer and having nothing but water and she would be back to normal... hopefully.

She was silent. She finished changing and then headed to the field for practice. Grrreat, she wasn't speaking to me, but I really shouldn't have expected otherwise. If she had told me I looked pregnant when I wasn't I would probably act the way she was too. So now, on top of cracking Emmett's secret, I had to get Rosalie back to normal too.

I've always been up for a challenge.

* * *

Practice had been horrible. Since I decided to unleashed my theory to Rose before practice, she had become a cheer nazi at practice: there was yelling, pushups, running... you name it, we did it. On top of that, she didn't really talking to me and left directly after practice to go to the gym. This didn't help me out much, though, since I was supposed to go to her place after practice and she just happened to be my ride. So I had a busted theory and no ride - fabulous.

The boys were either at football or lacrosse practice, so they were out, unless I wanted to wait here for another hour. But, Bella was still here and should be leaving soon too. With her charity gala two weeks away, just in time for Valentine's Day, there was still a good amount of prep work to be done. Since Bella had been MIA for a couple weeks due to all the press, logistics and planning were very up in the air still. We'd all tried to help her out, but she really needed to go back and make sure that everything was done the way she wanted it to be. I had taught her well: designate, but make sure to go back and check, multiple times, that no one has fucked up your original vision.

As I walked down the hallway, I heard laughter coming from the charity committee's usual room. That was good that they were having a good time, but it was somewhat unusual. These meetings were exactly known to be a laugh-a-palooza; they were more a tense, hostile, environment where Bella ruled over her minions with a tight fist and a bit of fear. Yet another technique that I so generously taught her.

I made my way closer to the door and noticed that it was just a couple voices that were laughing inside. I couldn't see who was in the room since the door was shut. It looked like it wasn't going to take long to figure out who was inside, though, because the door handle was jiggling: someone was trying to get out. I moved out of the way so I wouldn't get hit.

The door swung open. "Edward?" I exclaimed, confused - he was _supposed_ to be a lacrosse practice at the moment.

"Hey," he said a little on edge, running a hand through that tousled hair of his, which looked a little more tousled than usual.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have practice?" I asked curious and a little suspicious as to why his hair looked this messy.

"I was just checking in on the meeting; if Bella needed help or anything. I actually need to get back to practice, though, I'll see you at the house a little later," he told me with a smile, messing up my hair and then jogging away towards the practice field.

I blew the bangs he had just messed up out of my face. Asshole, touching my hair; I don't touch _his_ hair. I needed to get a haircut. I was trying to grow out my bangs, but this was just ridiculous; my cute bob had now morphed into this shaggy layered thing, and I wouldn't be having that.

I opened the door, sauntering in like I owned the place. We needed to establish a chain of command for this committee, and even though I couldn't come to as many meetings as some of the others there, they needed to know that I was second in command.

But all that pomp and circumstance was for nothing; no one else was in the room besides Bella. I was expecting a whole classroom full of people, or at least _one_other person, with the amount of laughter I heard coming from down the hall. Did that mean the laughter had come from Edward and Bella? Sure... when Manolos start popping up at Payless. Though, that did look to be the only conceivable answer.

"Hey Bells," I said announcing my presence, since her back was to me.

She turned around applying a coat of lip gloss. She looked slightly different than she had all day. I took a closer look, this time trying to be far more inconspicuous than I had been with Rose. Her makeup looked a little different; she was a little pinker, like she had more blush on or something. But her lips were really the thing that stood out. The lip gloss looked like something she wouldn't normally wear, it was way brighter than her usual gloss.

"Heyy..." she said slowly, "what are you doing here?"

I hopped onto the desk facing her. "Just thought I'd check in and see if you needed any help with the meeting... But clearly, I've missed it altogether," I explained.

Bella glanced at the time, then back to me. "Yea, we finished not too long ago. You just missed everyone by five minutes or so," she said.

Again, that seemed possible, but that did not explain why Edward was there. And it also did not explain all the laughter.

"Did my dear cousin come for the meeting too? He seems like he's been helping out a lot," I inquired, trying to keep it casual.

I'd been getting these hunches lately that one of them had a crush on the other, but I just wasn't sure who liked whom. And the way my inclinations were going lately, I didn't want to make any more wrong assumptions.

Bella glanced down at her phone and then picked up her stuff, walking towards the door. "Yea, he's been helping out a little, just like the rest of you guys have. Let me just say thank you, again, for all of this. I really couldn't have done any of this, or gotten through what I have, without you guys - especially you," she told me, giving me a one armed hug. "You, my love, are the best."

I smiled. Even though I wanted to press the Edward issue a little bit more, I wasn't about to interrupt her when she was showering me with compliments.

"By the way, do you know what happened with Rosalie? Em just sent me a text saying she freaked out before practice and isn't going to be back at the house to go over the gala details," Bella asked.

"Uhhh..." I said, stalling. "I may have said her uniform looked a little tight and she might have misconstrued that, thinking I told her she looked like an obese whale," I explained, omitting the part where I told her I thought she might, perhaps, look a wee bit pregnant.

"I see," she said, holding the door to the classroom open for me so we could leave. "I could see where she might have gotten a little upset," she continued, nodding her head.

I scrunched my face and held up my two fingers, like I was measuring something. "Possibly, just a tad," I joked.

We were halfway down the hall when Bella stopped abruptly. "Crap! I forgot my planner in the classroom. I'll meet you by the car, cause I figure you now need a ride back to Rose's house, since she left your ass here," she said.

I opened my mouth, about to protest, but quickly shut it. She was right; she just knew me too well - it was like she was a female version of Jasper. I nodded my head in agreement and appreciation that she was going to take me home. I continued down the hall by myself as Bella walked in the opposite direction, back to the classroom.

I made my way to the parking lot, noticing Tanya was the only one still there from the charity committee, which was odd. Usually, some of the girls linger after the meeting to discuss what happened or commiserate over their belittled ideas, which Bella had readily shot down. Not that I talk to the majority of the girls to know this, but all this "drama" gets back to me somehow.

So I decided to investigate; it was a way to kill time because who knew how long Bella would actually take to get her damn planner. I walked over to Tanya, one of the only girls on the committee that I could stand and who was in our extended social circle, to get scoop.

"Hey," I greeted Tanya brightly, "How'd the meeting go?"

She rolled her eyes. "Quick. We were barely in there for half an hour when Bella basically kicked us out. She said she needed to end early to make some phone calls for the event. I mean I know she's stressed out with the gala and everything else that is going on this year, but she _can_ let us do things, we aren't inept - well, I'm not inept. This is the reason I'm on the committee after all, to help out. She doesn't need to do it all herself, or have Jasper or Cullen do it - she needs to relinquish some control," Tanya vented.

A half hour meeting when she said that they just got out five minutes ago _and_ Edward's name mentioned again - something seemed off. I needed more information; I needed to play along.

"Yea, I know. She _is_ being a little ridiculous about all of this. I've been trying to tell her to give you guys more responsibility," I said, agreeing with her. "We've been trying to help her too, but you know Bella, sometimes she can be a bit stubborn. Are Jasper and Edward really helping? I mean if they're not, I can say something to them," I told her.

Tanya sighed. "I mean, I guess they're being as helpful as they can be - or as helpful as Bella will let them be. Jasper runs the meetings when Bella can't be there and Cullen seems more like he's standing guard over the meeting, making sure nothing goes wrong or happens when Bella's there. He has come up with some good ideas though: he was actually the one who came up with the date auction. I just would have thought that Emmett would be there too, but probably with it still being football season, he's just at practice and can't get away," she further explained.

I could see Bella exiting from the building. I had to wrap it up.

"So are they there a lot? Unfortunately, with cheer, I can't be as active as I have been in the past at the actual meetings. I'm taking a more behind the scenes approach this year," I stated, playing up my embarrassment and the fact that I was supposed to feel guilty for missing meetings.

She thought for a minute. "They aren't there a lot. In fact, Jasper hasn't been at a meeting in a while, but Cullen's there at almost every meeting," she said.

Bella was now out of the building and fast approaching. I couldn't ask anymore meeting questions now and risk the chance of Bella overhearing me - even though I had about a hundred more questions I would have loved to ask her.

"So why are you still here then? It seems like you've been waiting for a while," I inquired.

"You have no idea. Since the meeting was _supposed_ to go until now, my stupid fucking sister took my car to her doctor's appointment. I've been trying to call Irina, but she hasn't been picking up her damn phone... Bitch," she explained.

Bella was now in the car and was waiting for me. I needed to go.

"Well, I hope she comes soon," I told her sympathetically. "And, also, thanks for filling me in on what's I've been missing at the meetings," I called out to her, as I walked towards the car.

"Thanks," she said, dialing her phone again - probably trying to reach her sister.

Well this _was_ interesting. Why would Bella have lied about the length of the meeting? And more importantly, why was Edward _at_ all of these meetings and didn't tell anyone?

This had just fueled the fires of my crush theory and I was now certain that this was what Emmett knew about - and that bastard was keeping it from me. I could possibly understand him keeping a secret about Rose and he to himself, but about Edward and Bells? Un-fucking-believable.

Now, I had to break Emmett, Edward, _and_ Bella.

I got into the car which Bella already had running. She seemed in an awful big hurry for some reason... I smiled to myself, glad that all the pieces were coming together. This was probably a more accurate theory than the pregnancy one with Rose. I had an even stronger suspicion that I had nailed what was going on.

"Everyone sure did bail early Bells. Usually, they're all still chatting away by the time you leave and Tanya's the only one still here. Weird right?" I said, lightly.

She nodded her head in agreement. "Yea weird," she told me, absentmindedly or distracted on how she was going to keep whatever was going on under wraps.

She must have known that she would only be able to keep this secret crush/whatever-thing going on with Edward hidden from me for only so long. I was bound to find out... And that time just happened to be right now.

We both were silent for a while, which was strange. Bella must have been thinking strategy or how to thwart my deductive efforts. So I just went for it, since there was really no good lead in moment, since no one was talking.

"So, have you noticed Em acting kinda weird lately? I asked, nonchalantly.

"Weird?" Bella said, shooting me a confused, yet intrigued look - she was playing a long well. "How so?"

I shrugged, playing into her little facade. "I dunno, he's just been acting really strange lately - especially around you and Edward," I explained.

For a moment I thought I saw an "Oh fuck" expression cross her face as she stared out to the road, but that was just one fleeting moment. She was then back to normal when she looked back at me; back to the confused and intrigued expression she had before.

"Well, if Emmett's being weird around Edward and I, I really have no idea why," she said, shifting in her seat.

Well, I have a thought on why he's acting weird around the two of you, cause you looooove him, or vice versa - I wasn't too sure who loved who yet. That part of my theory was still developing.

"Oh, maybe it's because the two of you are hanging out so much lately. Maybe he's thinking he's the third wheel or something," I suggested, giving her a chance to open up.

Bella snickered to this. "The two of us have been hanging out more?" she asked, as if this was new information to her.

"Well, Tanya did mention that Edward's been at the majority of the committee meetings and he's really been supportive, at your side through this whole Jacob fiasco. He's been sticking up for you a lot," I told her.

She flinched and I thought I saw the corner of her mouth curl up, making a very small smile for a brief moment, before going back to her normal composure. "He's just been helping out - the way everyone else has been," she said rather defensively, speeding into the Cullen driveway.

Defensive was a good thing. It meant that I was getting close.

"Bells, no need to get uppity," I told her calmly. "I'm just saying what I noticed. But... if something _is_ going on, or you _think_ something might be going on, possibly, you can always talk to me about it. You know that right?" I told her sincerely, placing my hand on her and sweetly staring her down - this move had yet to fail me.

Bella smiled back, but had a slight sadness in her eyes. It looked like she was having some sort of internal struggle: that she wanted to tell me something, but was still holding back for some damn reason. "There's nothing going on," Bella said wearily, parking the car and heading inside the house.

And then it clicked all of a sudden. She was telling me what was going on - she had been telling me the whole time; I had just been too wrapped up in everything else and hadn't taken the time to really notice. All the stolen glances. All the alone time they had together; we could never find either of them and then they'd suddenly appear five minutes after the other one did. And all the fighting. These were all classic, tell-tale signs of a hidden romance, and I should know, seeing as how I'm currently in one. Especially, all the defensiveness when the fact they've been acting differently around each other was brought up and the slight storming out of the car just now - they _had_ to be together. This was why she looked different in the classroom and why Edward's hair was all fucked up earlier: they had been making out in the room and had ended the meeting early to do so! And all this had probably been going on for a while - probably since LA. This was great that they were together, but _how_ could I have been this fucking _oblivious_? How was I this far off my game? I blame Jasper and all our canoodling for this!

But of course I needed some sort of proof... enter Emmett to corroborate my theory, because neither Bella nor Edward would most likely break.

Bella waited for me and we both made our way in the house together.

"Bathroom," she told me as he headed upstairs.

I made my way over to the family room/kitchen area and found Emmett texting while sipping a drink - perfect, I could sense his lips loosening already. I walked over and made my own drink as well.

"Cheers," I called out, raising my glass to him.

Em mimicked my action after completing his text.

"Where are the other two?" I asked.

"They're still at practice; lacrosse went later than football. One more week of this, then on to the marathon lacrosse practices - joy. Where's Bells?" he asked, taking another large sip.

"Bathroom," I explained.

He nodded his head and then flipped the TV on. Em scanned the channels until he just left it on Comedy Central. Em got another drink as we sat there sipping and watching Scrubs, which just happened to be on. I heard my phone go off and reached to see what my text read. It was from Jasper, giving me an eta on his status.

_See you soon, gotta grab some stuff for mom with all her damn cravings. Edward should have gotten the ice cream, but let me know if he hasn't._

Edward? How would I know if he's gotten ice cream, he isn't even home yet, unless...

_I dunno if he's back yet. Haven't seen him._

I replied back; this would hopefully clarify the subject of Edward's location. I peered over my phone at Em to watch his demeanor: he looked normal, laughing along with the show, but looked slightly tense as well. I saw the light flicker on the phone again, shifting my focus back to my phone.

_He and Em should have been home my now - they left together a while ago._

So Edward _was_ here and Emmett was covering up for him. I couldn't believe it. Of all the people to keep their secret, Emmett? I took personal offense. And now, it was game over. Time to bust their little party. Bella still hadn't come down from the "bathroom" which must have been some sort of code between them. She was upstairs with Edward doing god knows what, otherwise, she would have used the bathroom down here.

Though, the two of them together was kind of incredible and I had seen this happening already - well I guessed and hoped it would happen. Bella and my cousin, we could be related! And they would have such cute kids, which, of course, I would be the godmother of.

No! Focus Alice, one step at a time. First, break Emmet and get him to come clean about their little secret, making all of them feel awful and guilty about lying to you. _Then_, start planning their beautiful summer wedding.

"God, Bella's taking forever. I'm gonna go up and make sure everything's ok," I told Emmett, waiting for his response.

This was an innocent enough comment, no reason for him to freak out about. Under _normal_ circumstances he would usually agree with me, but with the new development, his reaction to this would be key on how the rest of this discovery process goes down.

"She's fine, probably just lady problems. Just stay here," he answered.

Yup, something was going on because whenever "lady problems", as Em put it, came up, he always wanted them taken care of immediately. He always freaked out about periods, cramps, and other things of that nature.

"Well, if it is her period, I should definitely go make sure everything's alright then," I told him, getting up from my seat and walking towards the stairs quickly.

"No!" Emmett called out.

I turned slowly to read his expression - he was playing into my plan perfectly.

"Stay down here with me. You know how _those_ problems freak me out," he said, trying to remain composed, but I could sense the tautness in his body.

"Stop being such a baby. I'll be right back," I told him, grabbing a tampon from my purse - which would be his breaking point; if he still tried to stop me, tampon in hand, he would know that I would know something was going on, because he was scarred shitless of tampons and any other feminine hygiene products.

Em looked at the tampon and then to the stairs wearily, but still stayed strong. "You're just trying to freak me out. It's not going to work this time," he said, as if he was trying to convince both of us of this.

I moved closer to him, tampon still in hand. "It seems as if you don't want me to go upstairs and make sure Bella's alright," I stated innocently, grabbing the decanter and refilling his drink.

He took another large sip. "It's not that I don't want you to go check. It's just..." he said, stalling," you haven't seen this episode of Scrubs before."

I rolled my eyes. If this was the best he could do, he was seriously in trouble. "Whatever, just Tivo it. I'll be right back," I said, starting for the stairs again.

I heard the glass placed on the table and Emmett was now standing in front of me. "Alice, just stay," he pleaded.

And here we go, this was my opportunity to start the questioning. "But why Em?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "Why don't you want me to go upstairs and check on Bella in Edward's room?" I said innocently.

"Because," he said, confused. "Wait... I never said she was in there," he said narrowing his eyes at me, as if he was trying to comprehend how I had deduced this.

"No, I just figured that's where she would be. And, now you just confirmed this," I answered, honestly.

Emmett relaxed his face, trying to stay as composed as possible; trying to give off the illusion that he _wasn't_ lying to me. "I didn't confirm anything. But if I did, why would she be in there?" he questioned. "Do you know something?" he asked intrigued, his voice elevated.

"No. Do you know something?" I asked, pointing a finger at him.

"Um, can you not point at me with _that_" he said taking a step back and motioning to my hand that was holding the tampon, which was actually being pointed at him.

"Oh sorry," I said with a laugh. "Well, do you?" I asked again, threatening to move the tampon closer if he didn't answer.

"Well... I might know something," he said, quickly and quietly, as if he was scared that we were going to be overheard.

"Well, I might know something too then," I told him, responding in the same, quick, hushed, tones.

We both looked at each other, staring the other down to see if they would break. Emmett looked close to his breaking point, especially with all the scotch he just consumed, but still held his position. I sat down on the couch, not breaking eye contact, but just tired of standing.

"Pshh, you don't know anything," he said triumphantly, plopping down on the couch next to me with a wide grin.

I sprung up with this comment. "Well, if I don't know them I'm just going to go upstairs into Edward's supposedly unoccupied room and see if the thing that I think I know, is actually what I think I know," I told him, motioning towards the stairs and waiting for his response.

It took him a minute to take in everything I just said and then he sprung up from the couch too. "You know!?" he said, pointing at me confused.

I just nodded my head - he didn't need to know that I didn't _actually_ know what was going on. He just needed to think that I did.

"Bella and Edward?" he said again, wanting to confirm that we were actually on the same page.

I just continued to nod. The less I said, and the more he did, the better.

"Finally! Someone else knows besides me. I don't have to keep this damn secret to myself anymore, because it was actually killing me. When did you find out?" he asked, excitedly.

"Not until very recently, actually," I told him with a sly smile.

"Great. Come on, let's go tell them we both know now," he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me up the stairs and into the piano room.

The two of us busted in, finding Bella sitting on Edward's lap. They looked like they were simply talking while he played with her hair. It was really very sweet. But all of that was halted when they realized that I was in the room as well. Edward, instantly, got up, causing Bella to fall onto the floor.

"Em?" Edward said, annoyed yet trying to maintain his cool. "What are you guys doing up here?"

"We are here to confront you guys. We both know, so it's not a secret anymore.," he said, jovially, like a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

"Yup," I said exaggerating the p sound with a smug grin across my face.

"Emmett," Bella sighed.

"What?" he asked. He had yet to figure out that I had finagled him into telling me. "We both know. You told both of us. Is that bad that we both know?" he asked innocently.

"Cause she didn't know; you told her," Bella continued.

"What?" Emmett asked in a high pitched voice.

"Sorry," I told him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

But he pulled away. "You tricked me into telling you with scotch and lady problem fixers," he stated.

Edward had a confused look on his face. "Huh?" he asked.

"Tampons," Bella explained, patting him on the arm, somewhat patronizingly.

At least they were still themselves. They had their same personality around each other, not that lovey dovey crap Emmett and Rosalie are like when they are around each other.

"You're scared of tampons?" Edward snickered, amused.

"Not scared," he said, punching him in the arm, "I just like to be a safe distance away."

"Uh huh," both Bella and I said at the same time.

"Whatever," he said, pouting on the LoveSac.

"Well, anyways, now you know as well. And we would greatly appreciate it if the _two_ of you could keep this to yourselves. Even though you both know now, we still don't want to tell the general public, and that still includes Rose and Jasper," Edward stated.

"Now that _I_ know, of course it will be kept to _ourselves_. _And_, if _I_ had been the one to know about this little secret of yours from the get go, you both wouldn't be in this predicament of other people finding you out before you wanted them to," I scolded them, emphasizing the fact that I was a trustworthy secret keeper, unlike certain other parties in the room. "No offense Em," I told him sincerely.

"None taken. I can't keep a secret for shit," he stated.

"Uh duh. That's why we didn't tell you in the first place. You just happened to find out," Bella said.

"So you didn't tell him before me? That was just an accident?" I asked optimistically.

"Of course it was. You would have been the first person to know, were we _ready_ to tell people. But we just aren't ready yet. Emmett just happened to find out and then there was nothing we could do, besides telling him the truth," Bella explained.

What she said did change things. The fact that they didn't deliberately tell Emmett before me, and that he just stumbled upon their secret relationship by accident did make me feel better. But I was still left in the dark about this, which wasn't cool. I considered what she said; both she and Edward looked at me waiting for my response. By this point Emmett had turned on the Xbox. He had apparently become bored with the conversation - typical.

I narrowed my eyes playfully at Edward. "You know, I'm blaming you for all this secret keeping crap," I told him with a head nod.

"What?" he said, as if I was being preposterous.

Bella just grinned smugly, as if she knew that this would happen

"Why me? There should be equal blame here," he said, trying to convince me, placing an arm around my shoulder.

"Well, Bella and Emmett have never kept things from me before. And then you show up and fuck up the dynamics of our little group," I began.

"True that," Emmett concurred, staying focused on the video game at hand.

"Thank you," I beamed at Em. "_Therefore_, this must all be because of you," I deduced.

"Alright..."Edward said, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up," Bella told him, as she hit him in the face with a pillow, plopping down on the couch. "Agree with your cousin, damn it. Stop being such an ass," she teased.

He made a face at her. "First off, oww. And second, the only reason you agree with this is because she is siding with you," he retorted.

Bella stayed silent and looked toward the TV. Edward then looked at me for some corroboration, but I stayed silent as well, because he _was_ right - like usual.

"Anyway, I will forgive you both for this overt deception," I told them, with slight sarcasm, "as long as you let me plan the wedding and your first born child is named in my honor," I continued.

Em stopped the game and turned around. "That's not fair. I want a kid named after me too! I technically found out first, so the first born should be named after me, I call dibs," he stated rationalizing this.

Edward rolled his eyes, yet again, and ran a hand through his hair. "And that is why we didn't tell you first," he teased.

**good, bad? like it, hate it? think i totally messed up on alice, let me know! **cough cough, review, cough****

**also, this time i swear, i have been working on the next chapter - am halfway . it will be back to normal, from bella's pov and it is going to be the charity gala, so very excited. and it's prob going ot be a long one of a chapter.**


	25. Gala

**told you it wouldn't be long for me to get the next chapter up - and its back to nromal, bella's pov**

**thanks again for the feedback, love hearing from you guys!**

**again big thanks to thecornergirl and amandacullen 84**

**here's the chappie - more after the break**

**disclaimer - don't own twlight, never have and never will.**

BPOV

"Sooo, are you going to have Edward bid on you tonight? How exactly is this all going to work?" Alice asked, rather loudly.

Rosalie still didn't know and I still wanted to keep it that way, but the way Alice was talking, it didn't seem like this was going to stay secret much longer. She really needed to keep her voice down.

"Shhhh," I shushed her, motioning towards Rose with my head.

Alice rolled her eyes. "Oh please. She's in Rose Zone right now. So, unless I literally yelling it next to her ear, or used a megaphone, she wouldn't have heard anything," she told me, as we looked over at Rose primping herself in the mirror.

She had been doing that for the last 20 minutes or so, since the glam squad left.

"Well are you?" Alice pressed, wanting answers on how the auction was going to go down.

I shrugged. "I'm not exactly sure how that's going to work actually," I told her honestly. "I didn't even want to volunteer to be auctioned off in the first place, but seeing as how I'm the damn chair, 'I had to do my part'. There was no way I could get out of it, my darling committee wouldn't let me. I just wanted to lay low tonight," I explained, putting on mom's teardrop, champagne-colored, diamonds on.

They matched perfectly with my gown: Oscar de la Renta. It was beautiful. As soon as I saw it during fashion week, I knew I had to have it for the gala. In fact, that's what Alice and Rosalie had done as well. We didn't want any problems or jealousy arising with dresses, like they had in the past, and had kept all shopping excursions and ideas about possible dress selection to ourselves. It just so happened that all of us found our dresses during fashion week; the only thing we did check on was that we weren't all wearing the same designers, so there was no possible chance of overlapping dresses. Tonight was the big unveil and I knew that each of us was trying to outdo the other. Even our moms were taking it up a notch - probably because they were being auctioned off too. The auction was seniors and their parents.

"Yes, I can see your intention was _not_ to stand out and draw attention to yourself," Alice said, her words dripping with sarcasm.

She was probably referring to my dress, which just happened to be one of the show stopping pieces in de la Renta's latest collection. It was a brown and black brocade lurex and crinoline concoction of perfection. It started as a strapless bustier, which accentuating my chest and small waist, and then grew into a dramatic, tiered gown. It was _the_ perfect dress for me. The only problem was it wasn't exactly made for the real world. Due to the sheer size of the bottom of the gown, with all the crinoline, a needed a foot perimeter around me. I couldn't really walk too close to other people, or sit down, or go to bathroom... but it was worth it. Who needs having to pee or relax anyway?

"Oh shut up. You're just jealous of the dress," I told her, sticking my tongue out at her.

Her dress was fabulous as well, but nothing in comparison to mine. She was wearing a tan and fuzzy Marchesa gown. It was strapless as well, but unlike mine and Rosalie's gowns, hers was short. It went from almost being a mini to about knee length, which gave her more height than she actually had. It was asymmetrical with a broach cinched at the waist and a tan bow and ribbon cascading down from it, contrasting the rougher texture of the dress and broach with softness of the ribbon. Alice's gown fit her personality to a tee: it was soft and feminine, but with a bit of an edge. If I had seen that gown simply on a hanger, Alice would have been the first and only person who would have come to mind. Literally, the gown just screamed Alice... in a good way.

"Ha!" she scoffed. "Jealous, yeah right".

"Surrre... Anyways, how are you going to get Jazz to bid on you?" I asked, quietly.

I knew Rose was in her own little world, but I really didn't want to take any chances.

"Edward's going to do it," she stated frankly.

I raised a single, perfectly waxed eyebrow at her. "Edward?" I asked, a little confused.

She nodded once. "I told Edward I still hadn't sealed the deal with Jasper, so I was using this opportunity to finally close. And since I can't bid on myself, because that would just be awkward, Edward's going to do it for me and give me the date to use _with_ Jasper," she explained, smiling and rather pleased with herself.

I thought about it for a moment, to see if any of that actually made sense - and it did. Edward was still under the impression that Alice was still trying to fuck Jasper; I had yet to let him in on the fact that Alice and Jasper were actually together, and I planned on keeping it that way until they wanted everyone to know. And since Alice had been so wrapped up recently in keeping our secret and covering our tracks, she had been spending less time with Jazz, "thwarting" her plans to get in his pants, as Edward thought. So he probably thought of this date like a thank you to Alice; making up for lost time with her and Jasper. It was brilliant.

"So he knows you're going on a date with Jasper, but he doesn't think it's a date, date... Nice work," I told her, high fiving her.

"I know," she said smugly.

Cocky bastard.

"Girls, are you ready? The boys are getting a little restless and want to leave," mom asked, as she walked into the room with Esme.

"Renee, I didn't know you were wearing Marchesa too?" Alice exclaimed.

I wasn't sure if she meant this in a good way, that they were both brilliant in their fashion sense and went with the same design house, or if she was disappointed that someone else wearing the same designer as her. Alice gets rather uppity and weird about those things sometimes... as long as it's not the same dress or in the same family of gowns, I don't see why it would matter if the gowns came from the same designer.

"I didn't either. James and Mike picked it out for me. I've been so busy preparing for the upcoming film to really go out and shop. And when they sent this up to me, and it fit perfectly, I couldn't really say no to that. I love the dress they chose; they really have yet to fail me with their impeccable fashion choices," mom explained.

And she did love what they picked out. Actually, love wasn't really a strong enough word; she kinda flipped out when the dress was delivered. I thought she might have needed a moment alone with the dress the way she was acting, but that was mom: always extreme in her emotions. She either loves something or she loathes it - there is no middle ground. But what she usually _loves_, such as cheer and all that peppy shit, I tend to not be so fond of. In this case, though, probably because the boys picked it out, I completely agreed with her. The dress was beautiful, something she should have worn to an awards show or something. It was a long, white, chiffon goddess gown. It had an asymmetrical neckline, with leaf petals on the shoulder reaching a little towards the bust on the one strap, and a structured wide, black belt in the middle cinching the waist. It just draped beautifully. Mom wore her hair up in a modernized twist, accentuating her height and bone structure. My mom really was a knockout.

"Well, it's gorgeous," Esme agreed.

"Thank you. You look amazing as well - pregnancy really does agree with you; you're glowing. We both look divine. We had to do something to keep up with these beauties tonight. No one's going to bid on us anyway with our girls up for auction, but at least we look good. We can just be put out to pasture now," mom teased.

"Exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself," Esme laughed. "Though, I'm _fairly_ sure that I wouldn't be getting a lot of bids tonight even if the girls weren't here for some _unknown_ reason," she joked, as she patted her stomach gently.

Even though Esme was pregnant, you could barely notice in the Valentino gown she chose. It was a long, bright turquoise, jeweled collared gown, that had a slit to above the knee. Due to the cut and material of the gown, her baby bump was hardly noticeable. Aside from all the morning sickness, the pregnancy really had made Esme glow, which just made her complexion absolutely flawless. Both she and mom looked wonderful and I was sure that they both here going to have lots of bids on them tonight, from people _other_ than their husbands.

"No offense, but I hope you don't get a lot of bids mom. That would just be weird. You, going on a date with some guy, who might or might not be Carlisle, while you're five months pregnant. That just screams Jerry Springer," Rosalie stated, finally joining the conversation and pulling herself away from the mirror.

"My loving daughter, ladies. Thanks so much for those kind words, Rosie," Esme stated flatly, but with a giggle at the end.

"I try," Rose teased.

"_Well_, are you ready?" mom asked again.

Both Alice and I nodded; _we'd_ been ready for the last half hour. All of us, mothers included, turned our gaze to Rosalie. She was the hold up - she and that dress of hers. Rose was wearing the finale piece from Christian Siriano. It, too, was strapless and long, like my dress, but has had much more movement than mine, especially with the ruffle that turned into a damn pseudo train. It kept getting in everyone's way - which, I'm sure, is another reason why she wanted the dress. The dress had an oceanic feel to it, even though the colors were burnt orange, brown and maroon. The color scheme fit perfectly with her blonde hair and the cut of the dress looked like it was specifically molded to fit her body.

Bitch. I think she took the best dressed award... like always. Stupid Rosalie, with all her perfect proportions. Maybe if I was lucky she would trip over that damn train.

"Were you all waiting for me?" Rose asked, as innocently as she knew how.

"No... Bella and Alice, as well as Renee and I, _enjoy_ watching you groom and stare at yourself in the mirror. You know how fascinating that is... almost like watching paint dry," Esme responded, looking somewhat surprised she had just said what she did.

I bit my lip as I looked to Alice to see if she was having any better luck suppressing her laughter - not so much. Mom even turned her head away, because she couldn't stop herself from laughing. None of us had ever heard Esme say anything like that before to anyone, let alone her own daughter, which made this moment even better.

"Mother!" Rose exclaimed.

The hilarity of the situation could not be contained anymore. With Rose's exclamation, I let myself slip. A giggle came out and then mom and Alice followed. Esme joined in and this turned into a laughing frenzy at Rose's expense which couldn't be stopped. It was just too funny.

"Sorry dear," Esme chuckled, in mid apology, "it must be the hormones. I didn't mean that." She coughed to get that last laugh out, " You know you look gorgeous".

Rosalie looked skeptical but finally smiled back to her mom. "It's alright," she told her.

"I'll go get the boys," mom said leaving the room.

Alice leaned over to me. "I bet she meant it a little," Alice whispered.

Both of us chuckled silently at her comment.

"Shut up, I heard that," Rose commented.

A minute or so later mom was back in the bedroom with all of the boys, dad and Carlisle. We were staying in the penthouse suite in the hotel since we all had been running around all day making sure everything went right. The boys were on one side and the girls were on the other, much like the LA trip. The parentals were either going back home or had another room altogether, I wasn't exactly sure which.

All the men in the room looked dapper as ever. Luckily, no one was wearing some ridiculous outfit or crazy accessory, but were in formal wear; which was what the dress code was supposed to be. I was a little surprised that Emmett or Jasper didn't pull something by trying to wear a cowboy hat, or simply wearing the jacket without anything on underneath. They probably didn't want to disappoint or embarrass their ladies, and in Emmett's case, he wouldn't try to pull the same stunt twice.

Of all of them, Edward looked the best. My eyes were glued on him the minute he walked into the door. I had known what he was wearing ahead of time, because he wanted my input - which I thought was absolutely adorable, but I had _no_ idea just how good he would look. We would make quiet the couple this evening, though no one, aside from Alice and Em, would know. Alice squeezed my hand when they walked in, either excited for me, glad that Jasper had walked in, or a little bit of both.

"Princess, ready to go?" dad asked me.

"Uh huh, let's go," I answered back.

The legit couples quickly walked towards the hallway, preparing to go, leaving Alice, Jasper, Edward and I. The four of us looked at each other, as if we were trying to solve some complex word problem. We were all fairly intelligent; it really shouldn't have been this difficult to figure out. Of course there were secrets involved, and that _always_ complicates things.

"Come on kids," Carlisle called from down the hall.

In that instant Alice made her move: she went for Edward. She grabbed his arm and proceeded to drag him out the door. The two of them started whispering as soon as they linked arms. Were they up to something? They were probably just discussing how the bidding was going to take place, making sure everything was a go for both she and Jasper and Edward and I.

"I guess that just leaves the two of us B," Jasper stated, extending his arm for me to take.

"Yup. And what a handsome escort I have," I told him, straightening his tie and taking his arm. My dress was making it a little difficult to do so.

He smiled back at me. "Well thank you ma'am," he joked with a slight southern drawl. "Do you think you could take my arm, though, so we could leave," he teased, tapping on his watch.

I quietly grunted. "Easier said than done my friend," I huffed, finally grabbing his arm after the fourth attempt to do so.

"Well, if your dress wasn't the size of Texas, you might not be having that problem. By the way, exactly how many ballerinas did you mug to get enough tutus for this dress?" he joked.

"Ha, Ha; _very_ funny. Let's just go," I told him.

"What's the hold up?" Emmett yelled out, as we joined the rest of the party.

"Nothing major, her dress just tried to eat me - it was starting to get hungry," Jasper teased again - he was on a role tonight.

"Again, hilarious," I retorted dryly.

"I thought it was funny," Em replied, fist pounding Jasper.

I looked at the clock radio next to the TV, almost 6:30, we needed to get down there quickly; it was almost time to open the doors. How would it look if the chair was late to her own event?

"Let's go, let's go, let's go," I said quickly, rushing everyone out of the penthouse and into the elevators. Our group was too big for one, so we had to wait for both to arrive. One elevator were the parents, Rosalie and Jasper - though, I wasn't exactly sure why they got on that elevator. The second, which arrive a second later, was for the rest of us. This worked out in my favor because it would allow us to speak freely.

"So, how is this bidding going down?" Alice asked, motioning between the two of us with her finger.

Emmett reached out and touched the front of Alice's dress. "Oooh, fuzzy; soft!" he exclaimed, interrupting Alice's thought.

Alice swatted his hand away, frowning slightly. I wasn't sure if she was more upset that Emmett interrupted her or touched her dress. "No manhandling the dress; it's worth slightly more that you are," she semi teased. "Back to the issue in question: how, pray tell, is this going to go down inconspicuously?" she continued.

I looked to Edward, because I wasn't sure how this was going to work either. I hoped he had figured something out, or we were screwed.

He took my hand, trying to pull be as close as my dress would allow. When his hand touched mine, I felt my heart quicken. It was almost four months of dating and I still got butterflies when we touched. I wondered how long this excitement would last, because it always faded. The emotions would be there, but it would be something routine and expected eventually. This was the longest this feeling of excitement and nervousness had lasted with anyone, though, and I hoped it never went away.

"I've got it taken care of. Mike's going to bid on you and win that date. I told him you were still having issues with Jake, which you are, and that by doing this he would be helping out his little sister. So, you will then be free to go on a date with _whomever_ you please and won't have to worry about being caught," he said with a smile, kissing the back of my hand briefly.

This small action sent tingles up my spine.

All of us turned to the deceptive mastermind in the elevator to see if she concurred with Edward's plan of action. She stared out at the numbers on top of the elevator doors as they went down, almost with a blank look on her face. She then snapped back to reality. "Sounds good to me; I can't foresee any problems," she stated confidently.

"I'm glad to hear that," Edward said, flashing me that beautiful crooked smile that I loved.

"We're here; you guys might want to stop looking so lovey dovey now," Em commented.

He was right, we were here, which meant we had to separate. As soon as the elevator beeped, we dropped hands and moved further away from each other. I frowned at this, which caused Edward to chuckle slightly. I knew he didn't want to be away from me either, but was a little more discreet with his emotions. I really wanted _him_ to be my escort for the night - no, I wanted him to be my date. I wanted people to know we were together without it being a big deal or having to alert the fucking media. God, it's so hard to be me sometimes.

"Ready?" Jasper asked, extending his arm as the doors opened.

I nodded my head, this time taking his arm much easier. I had figured out how to move a little better in the dress now. I was now moving the dress, instead of the dress moving me.

All of us walked in to the ballroom together. People had already begun trickling in from the reception area and were now checking in to find their tables. The room looked absolutely picture perfect - the exact way I had envisioned. All of my efforts over the last six months were finally realized today. I had worked my ass off, but it was all worth it. Point for Forks, for giving me the this opportunity, since I probably wouldn't have had the time or desire to do so in LA.

"It looks fantastic, princess," dad commented, giving me a kiss on the side of the head.

"Yes Bella, this really does look amazing. You've out done yourself," Carlisle commented as well.

I could feel my cheeks flush slightly. "Thank you," I responded, graciously, back to them.

The parents took their leave, heading for their table. The McCarty's and the Brandon's were already at the table waiting for them. Their table wielded looks from everyone that passed by, young and old. They were really the Forks royalty tonight - we were merely their progeny, the _next_ generation.

The six of us sauntered throughout the room, schmoozing with people, posing for photo ops, and making the obligatory rounds. Since this was an official school function, we weren't supposed to have drinks, you know, we could _never_ support underage drinking... The lack of alcohol made this whole process even longer - the only way to talk to these people was with a buzz; that was the thing that would make them remotely more interesting. Every now and again, though, I would steal a glance at Edward. He would do something cute, smiling or rolling his eyes at some ridiculous comment a person just said, which helped the time go by. It was dumb, and really, completely insignificant, but it made me smile throughout the night.

Dinner came and went. Once dessert was served, those participating in the auction, which was everyone except Jasper, the lucky bastard, headed backstage. The parents involved in the auction were up first, then the rest of us. I wasn't particularly sure of the order, but I knew I was going last-ish; they all thought it'd be a great idea if I was the big finish or something.

I was having a great time, until I got backstage. Everything back there looked like one gigantic clusterfuck. The organized and smooth operating backstage, that I had planned and envisioned, was _not_ happening. People were running around, the auctionees were just standing around and didn't know where they were going, and the volunteers and people on the actual committee were all MIA. _This_ was why I trusted no one to doing anything correctly.

I could feel my blood pressure rising and my teeth started to grind. This is just what I needed to deal with right now... And my left arm was starting to hurt, this gala was giving me a heart attack - just what I needed to deal with right now.

Alice sensed my impeding freak out and took the lead. "I'm on it. I will whip these people into shape. You just go take a _breather_ or something," she ordered, shifting her eyes over to Edward.

"_You_, yes you. With the clipboard. Stay!" she yelled out, before chasing that person down.

I wasn't able to see who she was talking to because within a matter of seconds after she left I was being pulled from the backstage area. I wasn't going to assume it was Edward this time - I knew better than just to trust it was him. I stiffened slightly with memories from New Years and the surprise that awaited me then. I looked at the arm that held mine; I knew that suit. I craned my head slightly, just to double check, and was able to see that bronze tousled hair I was so fond of; everything was going to be fine this time.

"Where are we going exactly? You know we have to be back in a couple minutes and there's security everywhere. We're going to get caught," I told him, a little worried and possibly a little paranoid someone would see us.

"Can you relax a little - you're going to ruin your Valentine's Day surprise by being stressed out and obsessing. Besides, I implemented the security plan - I think I know where they're going to be and how to avoid them," he responded, his velvet-like voice chipping away at my anxiety.

"What? No, we aren't supposed to be celebrating until next week. I don't want anything," I answered him.

"We are; this is just a pre-celebration present," he replied.

Present? Well he knew the word to shut me up, because I wasn't about to argue with a present - even though now I felt bad that I didn't get him anything tonight.

And then we were there. It was a beautiful, snow-dusted courtyard. I didn't even know it existed and I had been to this hotel hundreds of times, all over the property. It was like it had just sprung up for this purpose: it was here for Edward and I to get away from it all and just be together.

It was completely serene here. It was open so you could see the sky and moon perfectly while the fountain and stream, that went through the courtyard, played a fitting soundtrack. The delicate white Christmas lights, which were scattered throughout the shrubbery and around the fountain complemented the night sky, making it seem like stars were all around us. It was as if we were in our own little universe, or some alternate plane of existence where it was just Edward and I. It was absolutely perfect.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he whispered in my ear.

"Where are we?" I asked, moving closer to him and intertwining our fingers.

"I take it you're happy with your surprise?" he asked with that crooked smile of his, leaning down and giving me a lingering kiss.

"Very much so," I whispered, when our kiss finally broke.

"I was hoping you would. We are in the back corner of the hotel. This used to be a botanical garden, when the hotel first opened. But, seeing as how this is Forks, the architect didn't take into account the delightful climate of the city. So, after years of replacing flowers which had died, they turned it into this - it even has some of the original tiling from the botanical garden. After the remodel and the additions that were made to the hotel, this kinda became lost to the general public and people forgot about it. Esme's working on a restoration attempt with the hotel to make this a little more well known and accessible to the public, because right now the path is a little complicated. That's the only reason I know about this," he explained, as he placed his hands around my waist.

I swear, every time he did that my heart stopped for a second.

I pushed down my dress so that I could get closer to him. "It's beautiful; I love it. Thank you for sharing it with me," I told him, gently grazing my lips against his.

"You're welcome," he said quietly, kissing me back.

My hands wrapped around his waist and his reached up my back. This was perfect. The perfect kiss, in the perfect location with the perfect guy that I loved. Wait, _what_?

I pulled away the moment the "L" word popped into my head. "We should probably get back inside before we are missed... and before things get a little out of hand," I teased, trying to lighten the mood.

He lowered his forehead to mine. "You're probably right," he said smiling, kissing me on the forehead too.

I grabbed his hand and began to walk - trying to not think of what I had just thought.

"Wait a minute," he said, stopping mid stride and turning towards me.

He looked like he was thinking about something.

"I just wanted to tell you, before we go back into the craziness that this gala is amazing. You've done a phenomenal job, even with all this other shit going on. You're incredible Bella; you're the one thing that has made this move back to Forks worth it. I'm..." he started, opening his mouth like he was going to finish his thought, but then shut it again. He looked nervous and a little hesitant for some reason. "And you look _absolutely_ stunning. You are, _by far,_ the best dressed of the night," he said.

I waited to see if there was anything more. He still looked like he needed to say something and telling me I looked nice wasn't something to get all nervous about.

"Ok, I'm done. Let's go inside now," he continued, sounding and looking a little more relaxed now.

I wanted to respond to what he said, but there was no time; we were already hightailing it back to the ballroom. It was kinda like he didn't _want_ me to respond to what he just said, which also was kinda weird.

We stopped a couple door from the backstage area. "You go first and I'll follow," he instructed, squeezing my had before he let go.

"Ok... And, thanks," I said with a smile, reaching up and giving him a lingering kiss.

Thanks? What the hell was that? Who the fuck says that after they've been showered with heartfelt compliments by their caring and perfect boyfriend? Apparently dumbasses, like myself.

"_Where_ the hell have you been?" Victoria yelled at me as I came through the door.

She had been running up and down as I came in and stopped when she saw me. She looked like a crazy person, right now, in her gown and fiery red hair strewn all over the place - she looked a bit stressed out and on edge. Since she seemed to be busting her ass helping out, I would let the attitude and the yelling slide.

"Actually, no, I don't really care where you've been; it doesn't matter. You're late, which is causing _everything_ else to be late, so you need to get on that stage immediately. Have you seen Cullen?" she snapped at me.

And my overlooking her attitude was now over. Her continuing to act like a bitch towards me was inexcusable, after I've included her on the committee - which no freshman have _ever_ been on. "No," I said coolly, "I have not seen Edward".

"And Victoria," I said sweetly, "if you ever try to fucking talk like that to me _again_, I will make sure that you, and your shitty dye job, ever regretted deciding to come to Forks in the first place and try to play with the big kids. You may have been hot shit at whatever po-dunk, Nuevo Riche, city you were at before, but remember, here, you are nothing here and will be nothing without me. Got that?" I said, dismissing her as I walked up to the stage.

Alice and Tyler came off the stage as I approached. Late my ass, we were running on time; I wasn't holding anybody else up. "How'd it go?" I asked them.

"Great - lot of fun. Went for a grand, I think," Tyler said with a cocky grin.

"Glad to hear," I said, nodding my head. "And thanks again for helping out," I told him, as I gave him a hug.

"Of course Bells - anything for you. This was the best event yet," he said returning the hug, before walking off stage.

"The only reason he went for so high is because Lauren has such a crush on him. Really, it's kind of pathetic. She was kicked out of the school and still comes to the gala to stalk him. Can you say pathetic," Alice commented.

I rolled my eyes. "Alice, I don't really care if his dog bid on him. It's a thousand more dollars going to the Glaser Foundation," I told her.

This year I decided to have the money from the gala go to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. It was either that or the Trevor Foundation, that combats suicide among LGBT youth, but the committee thought we'd be able to raise more money for pediatric AIDS, because there were still a lot of homophobia within Forks; point for LA and their liberal thinking.

"That is true," Alice retorted.

"And how did the bidding go for you?" I asked with a raised brow.

"Yes, how much am I shelling out for this rendezvous of yours?" Edward inquired, sneaking up on us.

"Everything went as planned. And I'm not exactly sure what you'll be 'shelling out', I think it's around four thousand," she told us.

"What a deal! And for your own cousin too," I teased.

"Ha, ha," he flatly commented back.

"So how are you going to bid on him?" Alice whispered.

My face went blank - I had completely forgotten about bidding on Edward. I was so wrapped up in the details of the gala, that I had totally forgot about him. I was the worst girlfriend, ever.

"Again, never fear, I've taken care of it. Tanya's going to bid on me," he explained.

"Tanya? Denali? The girl who's had a crush on you forever? Are you stupid?" Alice asked.

He ran a hand through his hair, blinking slowly, as if annoyed by the questions. "Thanks for the confidence in the plan. And how many times do I have to tell you that it's not like that. We've been friends for years. Besides, she's dating someone at Brown or something. She's just helping out tonight as a favor; it's really not a big deal," he told me, trying to reassure me that this was nothing more than what he just said.

Victoria came over, looking all stressed out again. "_What_?" she yelled, but then took a minute to gather her composure, looking over to me and nodded in apology. "What are you guys still doing here? You were supposed to be on already. You guys are the finale - and the finale's happening now, music's already playing. Just walk out there and ad lib or something on the stage - pose, dance, do something," she said, making a scooting motion with her hands and trying to get Alice off the runway.

"Shall we?" Edward asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"I hope this works," I whispered to him, referring to all these bidding plans.

We walked out, arm in arm, to Friends, Lovers of Nothing by John Mayer playing; this was an interesting song to walk down to with Edward. I didn't remember putting this on the runway playlist, but I very well could have just forgot. The runway was a lot longer than I remembered from rehearsals. As we made our way down, we stopped and posed, showing ourselves off a little more - you know, up our asking price. My inner Heidi Klum was loving this. When we reached the end of the runway, Edward did something I wasn't expecting and that we hadn't rehearsed: dancing together. It wasn't anything suggestive, inappropriate, or anything that would lead to any conclusions people weren't already drawing, due to the paparazzi stories, but it was comforting to me - which was something that I needed and he knew that.

I so wanted to just put my head on his shoulder, close my eyes, and just enjoy the moment, but I knew I couldn't. We could hardly stand close to each other without stories popping up and if I did that, it would definitely fuel those flames. We barely looked at each other while we silently twirled around the end of the runway. There was one fleeting look that said it all: it had the compassion and emotions we had between us. It was almost too intimate a look to be having in front of all these people, but I couldn't help giving in to it.

The end of the song started playing:

_No we'll never the in between, so give it up_

_Anything other than a yes is no_

_Anything other than stay is go_

_Anything less than "I love you" is lying_

And then it just clicked - I _was_ lying to myself if I tried to say I didn't love him. Why was I trying to fight this? He was perfect: sincere, compassionate, caring - basically everything someone wants in a boyfriend, including being undeniably gorgeous. He was my perfect match, and as much as I didn't want to admit it, he kind of completed me. God, I was spouting some corny Jerry Maguire crap. If I was doing that there was no denying this anymore - I was in love with Edward. I love Edward Cullen... whoa, weird. It did feel right saying it, though.

He finally twirled me out of his arms, drawing me back to reality. I had been wrapped up in my own thoughts that I had missed all of the bidding.

"Now Bella Swan, the woman who made this all possible tonight, would like to say a few words," Emmett announced, handing me a bouquet of roses, a kiss on the cheek, and the microphone.

Edward and Emmett left the stage, leaving me there to fend for myself. I have to come up with a speech right now... ah crap. I would have been fine and composed if I hadn't just been in Edward Cullen-land. I'd count this speech a success if it didn't declare my love for Edward in it, because that was the only thing I was thinking about. Come on, think Bella, think.

I took a breath and finally held the mike up to my mouth. "Thank you Emmett. And thank you all for coming tonight and making this benefit, for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, such a success. In case you weren't aware, all the profits from tonight will be going to that foundation. This was a complete success and none of it could have been done without you guys. I also want to say thank you to my committee - really you guys make me look good. Thank you, and enjoy the rest of the night," I told the crowd. It was short and sweet, even semi-thoughtful - exactly what was expected.

I walked down the stairs on the side of the runway to my parents' table to give mom the roses. Everyone was mingling, though, dad was the only one there.

"You looked gorgeous up there sweetheart," dad said, touching my hand.

"Thanks dad. You don't look so bad yourself," I told him.

He just smiled at me as I started moving away. "Wait a sec Bells; I've got a question for you," he stated, causing me to come back to the table.

He leaned in towards me. "Are you aware of how crazy that Cullen boy is about you?" dad whispered secretively, which a sly smile. "How long has something been going on with you guys?"

What?!

I tried to brush it off. I innocently laughed, like what he said was preposterous. "What? Nothing's going on dad," I told him.

"Okay..." he said, reclining in the chair a little bit.

But now I was curious. Were we that obvious? Did he catch that look Edward and I had? Now I tried to sit down. It took multiple attempts, but on the last try it seemed to finally work. "Now why would you think this?" I inquired.

He laughed. "Now, was this a confirmation?' he asked, laughing again. "I think I know my own daughter, and I've been around Edward enough to know that he doesn't look like that at just anyone," he explained.

Now I was getting paranoid. "Do a lot of people think this? Do _they_ think Edward looks at me differently, or are you the only one?" I asked.

"Well, I'm basing this on a string of interactions, not just tonight - so I'm not sure what others really have to go on. Tonight, for me, was just the nail in the coffin. Bells, the boy's head over heels - I hope you see that. Other people might think you guys are just good friends, but your old dad knows better," he said, tapping his temple.

"Dad, I've neither confirmed or denied anything; you've taught me well to deflect these tricky situations. So right now you are just speculating," I told him, getting up.

He laughed again to himself. "I believe that's my answer right there, princess," he said, getting up to join the rest of the dads at the bar.

"What was that all about?" Emmett asked.

"Did you think Edward and I looked all coupley on stage? You can tell me the truth," I asked, wanting his opinion on this.

"Uh... I don't know. You guys are a couple, so it this some sort of trick question that maybe I'm just not getting? he asked.

"No, this is _not_ a trick question. I'm just asking for your observation," I answered.

"I mean you guys looked normal, I dunno. I mean, I'm a straight guy; I don't notice those types of things. Mike would be a lot more helpful right now," he commented.

Em was right, he was a guy and wouldn't have noticed something subtle like a look or picked up on anything unless it was completely obvious. Dad was probably just paying more attention to me since I'm his daughter - like any parent would. Yes, we were fine; totally in the clear...

Edward walked over to us. "Your dad was acting really weird a minute ago," he told me.

"Yeah, I know. Just brush it off; he's probably just drunk," I joked.

He and Emmett laughed - they were buying this, fantastic. Hopefully, no more questions or comments on this subject would arise. As long as I kept a comfortable distance between Edward and dad, we were in the clear.

My mind drifted to what dad had said, that Edward was head over heels. I mean I knew he cared about me a lot, but love was a different story. Love came with time, and I didn't know or want to assume that he was in that love phase yet. Maybe he was and just didn't know how to approach telling me. That made sense, because right now, I was scared shitless about telling him. Maybe I should just stay quiet about it right now and just give it time. If he loves me, it'll come out eventually... right? So that settles it; mum's the word for the time being.

"Hello? Earth to Bella? You ok?" Rosalie asked, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

I swatted her hand away. "Yes, I'm fine - just zoned out for a minute. Thanks for the concern," I told her.

"What are friends for," she laughed.

Tanya walked over to us. "Hey guys," she said, acknowledging the rest of us even though her eyes were clearly on Edward.

And I didn't like it; I didn't like it one bit.

"Great job again Bella," she said with a smile, finally pulling her gaze away from Edward. "Cullen, can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked, as she looped her arm around his and walked away.

Em shifted his focus to me, waiting for my reaction. He must have thought I was going to throw down in the middle of the event I was chairing, in designer couture - it was like he didn't even know me. I wasn't going to, but the more I watched Tanya and Edward together, the more I _wanted_ to. She needed to get her anorexic hands _off_ my boyfriend. I didn't care if they were long time friends or whatever, she was a tall, gorgeous model who just bought a date with Edward - the bitch needed to go.

Screw not telling Edward how I was feeling. Screw keeping our relationship quiet. I was done. I was at my breaking point and I wanted everyone to know that I loved him and that we were together. I had no idea where this bravery was coming from, but I needed to tell him now before it, and the adrenaline, went away and the doubt came in - and it would if I waited for too long to tell him.

I was growing impatient with Tanya's little talk. Emmett seemed to sense this, asking Rose if she wanted to dance - just getting her away from the situation when Edward got back. I mouthed a thank you to him as they went to the dance floor.

Edward started walking back as Emmett and Rosalie walked to the dance floor. Our eyes locked and I motioned for him to follow me. I walked out the front of the ballroom and towards the lobby and the valet turnaround; the adrenaline was in full force because I felt like I was going a hundred miles a minute and my heart was pounding in my chest. I was nervous and excited all at the same time. I wanted to get to the courtyard we were at earlier, but I wasn't exactly sure how to get there.

"Bella," Edward called out.

I kept going, searching for the entrance or pathway that would get us there: I was a woman on a mission. I needed to tell Edward I loved him and I wanted it to be absolutely perfect - so it _had_ to be at the courtyard. I stopped to speak with one of the valets. "Do you happen to know how to get to the old botanical garden from here?" I asked sweetly.

"Sorry Ms. Swan, I don't. But I do have something for you, just wait here," he said politely.

I nodded my head, signifying that I would wait. What could he have for me?

Edward finally caught up to me, a little winded. I guess I was moving as fast as I thought I was, which meant Edward probably had to run to keep up.

"Ok, where are we going? Where's the fire?" Edward joked, taking a gulp of air.

"I wanted to go back to the courtyard from earlier," I explained.

"And you thought a light jog was necessary to get there?" he joked again.

"Sorry, I didn't realize how fast I was going. I just wanted to get there," I told him.

"Don't worry about it - it's fine. Why are we in the lobby, though? The garden's in the opposite direction," he stated.

"It's not like I knew where I was going... I was just winging it".

"No biggie, we'll just take the long way round. I actually have something that I need to tell you," he said.

He needed to tell me something, that didn't sound like a good thing. It didn't even sound like he was nervous, which I would have preferred. This something sounded like a bad something.

"No, just tell me here. Is this why Tanya wanted to talk?" I asked.

He looked at me and the resolve on my face; I wasn't budging until he told me - and he knew that.

"Yeah," he began.

And here it comes. I was actually bracing myself for this: that Tanya wanted to keep the date and they were going to run off together, get married and have beautiful children together.

"So...?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"She didn't bid high enough. She lost the bid. She just wanted to tell me in person and apologize. She feels really bad about the whole thing," he explained.

She lost the bid? That was it - no runaway, beautiful babies plans? I smiled at this.

He scrunched his face. "You're happy about this?" he asked, confused.

I laughed aloud. I'm not happy she lost, not at all. I was just expecting you to say something completely different," I, now, explained to him.

His forehead stayed scrunched. "Huh? I must be missing something," he stated.

I was about to continue with my explanation when the valet pulled up with a Ducati. My carefree demeanor changed instantly. He parked it in front of me and handed me the keys along with an envelope. Edward looked confused, yet again, but I wasn't. I knew _exactly_ what this was.

Alice came from the lobby looking worried. She looked at the bike and then at me, confused like Edward. I knew what she was going to tell me before the words left her mouth. I stared at the envelope, not wanting to open it.

"Alice, what is it?" Edward asked.

"Mike didn't win Bella's auction," she said.

Edward was trying to put the pieces together, figure out what was going on - what he was missing. "But they said a call-in bidder won," he said.

"Yes, but there were _two_ call-ins. Bells, he bid 15 thousand; they basically closed off bidding for you after the phone call and nobody knew. I just found out," Alice continued.

I was through just staring at the envelops; I needed to make sure. I tore it open:

_Happy Valentine's Day, love. See you soon - JB_

**so what did you guys think? of course let me know if you loved it, hated it, or was bleh about it. love hearing from you.**

**if you'd like more information on the charities mentioned, the elizabeth glaser pediatric aids foundation or the trevor foundation, please visit these sights. i will have links on my profile, they both do incredible work**

**i will also have links to the dresses and song on my profile as well, some other chapter goodies.**


	26. Gift Exchange

**hello, hello! i hope everyone had a good holiday season and a happy new year! sorry for the extreme delay. i had the stomach flu from before christmas all the way to new years eve... it was really great... so i hope you all had a much better time than i did.**

**again, i want to say a very big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment and review, you guys make my day! so thank you all soo much! it means a lot to hear back from you guys.**

**silverstaged - you rock**

**a BIG thanks to thecornergirl and amandacullen 84, you guys are phenomenal.**

**hope you guys like!**

EPOV

He had ruined my night yet again. It was like he had been a step ahead of us the whole time, all the while, being away at school. And _again_, there was nothing that I could do to make the situation better: Jake had won the date fair and square.

Bella was upstairs in the room, with Alice and Charlie going over the auction contract to see if there was some way to get out of the date. This wasn't some kind of business merger, that needed complex clauses and rules, it was a high school charity function - you would think that there should be _some_ way to get her out of it.

"Bro, I'm so sorry about this," Emmett whispered, while Jazz was saying final goodnights to some stragglers in the ballroom.

The event had been officially over for a while, but there were still some people lingering. Since Bella had _retired_ for the evening, Jasper had taken on her duties as chair - which at this point just meant getting everyone out of the ballroom and making sure the volunteers were doing what they were supposed to.

I nodded my head back to Emmett. "Thanks," I muttered, reaching for dad's scotch that was sitting at the table. The event was now over, and even if it wasn't, I fucking needed a drink.

"Okay boys, I think I'm done for the night. It's past my bedtime and the baby's been wanting to leave since midnight," Esme said, gently patting her stomach before standing up. "Not too much, alright Edward?" she said, glancing at the glass with a very motherly, knowing look.

What was up with all the parents tonight giving me looks?

I half heartedly smiled back at her. "Alight mom," I said with a laugh.

"You too Em," Esme said, smiling sweetly at him as well.

Emmett nodded his head - like any obedient child would do.

"Carlisle, dear, you ready?" she called out to him. He nodded from afar. "Ok boys, see you in the morning."

Both Emmett and I got up to hug her goodbye. Em was first and then me. "Everything's going to work out. It'll be ok," she whispered in my ear, as we hugged, squeezing me a little tighter than usual.

I nodded a smile back to her before she walked over to dad and Jasper at the exit.

As dad and Esme left, Charlie finally came down from the suite; he didn't look too happy. He made his way to our table, quickly followed by Jasper.

"So how's it look?" Jazz asked.

Charlie looked down, taking a sip from his drink. "Not too good," he said, looking directly at me with apologetic eyes. "I'm going to get my contract people on it; if there's a way out of it, they'll find it, especially since they drafted the contract. The only thing I can see to negate the contract is if someone else out bids Jacob and he's willing to give up the date - which I don't think he will do. Because of all the problems that were going on with Bells, it was put in the contact that the date is non-transferable. He was the reason that was put in; obviously, he got around that. So we'll see," he finished.

Renee came over and joined up; she looked tired and worried. "How's she doing?" she asked.

"As good as to be expected. Bella's just..." he paused, thinking about the proper word choice, "_perturbed_ over the whole situation; that she didn't see it coming. She's upset with herself, mostly."

"I'm going to go check on her and then we can go," Renee told Charlie as she started to walk away.

"Hun, I don't think that's the best of ideas; she needs some space. She actually doesn't want to see anybody - she asked Alice and I to leave. So let's just give her a little time and we can discuss this in the morning," Charlie commented.

Renee gave him a questioning look, making sure this was the best for Bella. He nodded once, acknowledging her concern.

"Alright then, let's go home. We'll see you boys in the morning. Goodnight," Renee said, hugging each of us before she left.

We started walking them out when Charlie stopped and turned around. he put his hand on my shoulder. "I'm gonna try my best to get her out of this," he told me, squeezing my shoulder, before finally turning back to Renee and leaving.

Again, a weird parent moment... He had to know about Bella and I being together, maybe even Esme knew - though I wasn't sure how. Maybe Bella just told him, which would make this a lot easier to deal with and would actually make a lot of sense.

Jasper looked slightly befuddled, looking between Em and I to see if we had that same confused look on our face that he did. We, of course, did not. "What's going on? What was that all about with Charlie and you?" he asked us.

Eh, fuck it. He's bound to find out about Bella and I at some point in the next couple days; it might as well come from me. "Bella and I are together. Have been from a while now," I explained.

I waited for the shocked reaction; for the "oh my god" moments that Alice and Emmett had, had, but it never came. There was no shocked or amazement over this revelation, merely acceptance and approval.

Jasper nodded his head a couple of times. "Ok," he said, not making a big deal out of this _at all_; a proper and expected Jasper reaction.

Although I thought there would have at least been a pause, "dude", or something that would have thrown him off. But I guess there's no surprising him.

Em, on the other hand, who did know about us, looked shocked. He was either stunned by the fact that I just told Jasper or that Jazz was so blasé about the whole thing. Em walked ahead, shaking his head and mumbling to himself - the only thing I could make out was "just like that", or at least that's what I thought he said.

Jasper and I walked a little faster to catch up with him.

"Em, you ok?" Jasper asked with a chuckle, trying to figure out why he was talking to himself.

He sighed loudly. "Yea," he said, pouting for a second, but then looked over it. "Let's go make sure everything's all taken care of in the ballroom so we can go," he finished.

Jasper led the way, while the two of us followed.

"Next time you've got a secret, please just tell me like that. No more making me secret keeper," Em joked, lightening the mood a little.

I smiled slightly at this. "That sounds reasonable. As long as, next time, you don't go snooping though my stuff," I told him back.

"Fuckin deal," he agreed with a grin.

I felt a little better joking around with Emmett. It seemed to relieve some of the tension that was accumulating. This was a difficult situation, but we'd get through it, like we had before. I just needed to relax a little bit now.

Alice and Rosalie were waiting for us in the hallway. It looked like they had taken care of all the final goodbyes and the necessary arrangements.

As we walked over, Rose smacked both Emmett and I in the head. "_That's_ for not telling me in the first place about the two of you - some brother you are," she scolded, pausing and then hitting Em in the chest. "And _that's_ for keeping their relationship a secret for like two months - oh boyfriend of mine," she finished.

Em rubbed his head. "Why do I get hit twice and he only gets one?" he asked.

"Because _he's_ going through enough right now," she explained to Emmett before turning to me. "I'm sorry about all of this, the hitting and the whole Jake thing, but I'm so happy for you and Bells! Next time, just tell me; I am your sister after all," she squealed giving me a hug.

This was weird. Rose and I _never _hugged, ever; she must be excited for me and Bella. I returned the hug, pleased everyone was on board with our relationship and was now in the loop. That would make everything coming up so much easier, because I was pretty sure things with Jake were going to get a lot worse before they got any better.

"Thanks Rose," I told her.

"Is everything all wrapped up in there?" Jasper asked.

"Pretty much. Victoria and the Freshies are double checking everything and overlooking the rental pickups, so we're all done," Alice replied.

"Great. Let's go up to the room. I really want to talk to Bella," I told them, starting for the elevator.

Rose and Alice looked between each other. That was not the look that I was going for, wanted to see, or even thought I would see. Something was up; I was probably included in the "people Bella doesn't want to see" list.

"What?" Em asked.

"She doesn't want to see or talk to us... _any_ of us," Alice explained, as gently as possible.

I was right; I had been included in her list. All of them just looked at me, seeing how I would take it. I tried to take it calmly and show them that this wasn't a big deal, that it was ok and that I could give her space - I had a good poker face. I was anticipating hearing this, but it still hurt, like someone took the wind out of me. Thoughts of doubt filled my head; was there a reason she didn't want to see me? After everything we've been through in the last couple months...

I should have just told her that I loved her earlier tonight in the courtyard, the way I had planned to. But, of course, I had pussied out, just like I had the two other times I tried to tell her. Tonight was different, though; tonight, I thought I would actually do it. Maybe I should have, if I didn't then... No, shut up, you're just being fucking paranoid. Bella doesn't want to see anybody right now, just calm the fuck down Edward.

They were all still looking at me for my reaction. "Ok, no big deal; I'll just talk to her in the morning. We'll just go upstairs and go to bed. It's almost three and we've all had a long day," I told them, continuing towards the elevator.

I didn't turn back to see their reaction or glances towards each other, which I knew they were doing. They were looks of concern and pity, which I didn't want. I knew they felt bad, but this wasn't the end of the world - I didn't want their pity. What I _did_ want was for something to have just gone right for me.

We boarded the elevator and rode up silently. I didn't know if they were all too tired, which they probably were, or if they just wanted to give me my space and didn't know what to say. Either way, I was grateful; I didn't want to keep up the pretense that I was fine and I really didn't want to snap at any of them either, so silence was the best thing I could do.

Again, thoughts of beating Jake to a bloody pulp crossed my mind, causing me to smirk, but seeing as how he wasn't here now, the instant gratification of this was near impossible. Besides, I knew all of our close friends now knew, but I still didn't know if Bella was ready for everyone else to know. And beating the crap out of Jake would definitely be in the category of announcing our relationship to the world. The only thing I could look forward to, at the moment, was going to bed. Hopefully, I'd wake up and this would all be a dream or miraculously be resolved. Ha - doubtful.

The doors to the elevator opened and I went directly to my room. Since there were only four bedrooms in the suite, Jasper and I had planned on bunking up and letting Alice and Bella have their own rooms. Now, they could duke it out for the last room because I wanted the room to myself. No, I needed the room to myself.

I changed out of my tux and took a quick, but very hot shower. The scalding water seemed to wash away some of my frustration, just leaving me exhausted. I had been busy all day. I was up at five setting up the courtyard for Bella's surprise and then assisting with the gala, and if it wasn't for this Jake thing, I probably would have been passed out hours ago.

Before I went to my room, I looked towards Bella's door, which had her bathrobe hanging on the towel hook. I noticed the bathroom was connected to her room. I had just gone to the closest available room when I walked in the door to the suite, not even noticing if it was my own. This had to be Alice's room, since she and Bella had the adjoining bathroom. I looked to the bathroom counter where my pajama pants were laying; Alice must have switched our stuff and then put my pjs in the bathroom for me. That pixie had laid it out for me and moved all of my things around so I wouldn't have to, she even hung up my tux for me. She was really the best cousin ever.

I changed into my pajama bottoms and walked to Bella's door. I didn't open it; I just looked. I held my hand up to the door and placed my forehead against it - this is the closest I was going to come to talking to Bella tonight. I paused for a minute like this, closing my eyes. "I love you," I whispered, barely audible.

I shuffled off to bed, too tired to even dry my hair. As soon as I laid my head on the pillow, I could feel the water seeping. As I began drifting off to sleep I heard my door open. I was too tired and too close to actual sleep to care who it was and why they were in my room; besides, it was probably just Alice taking another one of her bags. I heard the door gently close, but someone was still in the room and walking towards the bed.

I felt the covers lift up a little and someone slid into bed. I groggily opened my eyes, seeing Bella moving closer to me. From what I could make out, it looked like her eyes were puffy and a bit bloodshot, but it was dark and I couldn't tell for sure. I adjusted, making room for her to come closer, since I had initially sprawled out over the bed. She scooted in nearer, which brought her close enough for me to wrap my arm around her waist and bring her even closer.

We faced each other, but neither of us said anything. I knew she didn't want to talk, and I respected that. At the moment it didn't matter, all that Jake bull shit was gone and I was just glad that she was here right now. She had taken a shower too, and I could smell her shampoo. This was the real Bella right now, the Bella that I had fallen for - the one that didn't have any pretense, the one that was just her. And right now, puffy, bloodshot, eyes and all she was the most beautiful. I pressed my lips to her forehead, giving her a lingering kiss.

She snuggled in closer to me, almost burying her head into my chest. I felt something hot and wet trickle down my skin; she was crying. She was quiet at first but then I heard small sobs escape from her throat. I pulled her even closer to me, protectively, and stroked her hair, trying to calm her down. I wanted to wipe her tears away and make her feel better, take away the pain and anger, but I knew I couldn't. I started humming a composition that I had started working on for her. This finally seemed to calm her down and eventually she drifted off to sleep. I was tired, but I didn't want to stop and risk the chance that she might wake up again. As I hummed her lullaby, I vowed, yet again, that Jake wouldn't get away with this.

* * *

Yet _another_ gift came today at lunch for Bella from Jake. It was almost like he was baiting me; trying to force me to make a move.

And I wanted to - I _sooo_ wanted to.

"What's it today boys, hmm?" Bella asked Jake's table, holding up the box.

Embry just shrugged. "Sorry Bells, don't know what you're talking about," he answered her, playing stupid.

Bella saw what he was doing. She knew Jake had ulterior, manipulative, motives, not just showering her with gifts to get on her good side and ameliorate her rage. She knew he was pushing to see how far he could go before one of us just snapped. So she let all this slide publicly; she didn't want to give him any more ammunition. Charlie's legal team, who had drafted the fucking contract, still hadn't been able to find a loophole to get her out of the date.

"What's it _this_ time?" Emmett asked, annoyed, yet again.

If it was possible, I would say that Em hated Jake even more than I did. I wasn't exactly sure why, since he doesn't ever talk about it or ever told me the specifics of what happened, but I'm sure there was a justified reasoning behind it. For all I care, he could have scuffed Em's Puma's back in the fifth grade and he's been holding a grudge since then, and I would still think that Em's in the right. No longer did I stay impartial in other people's beefs with Jake - I was all for them. The more opposition towards him, the better.

Bella just stared at the box, hesitant to open it. She was getting tired of these "trinkets of affection" as the first card called them. On Monday, it was a helmet and a riding jacket. Tuesday, there were some very, _very_, skimpy lingerie, which caused me to punch a hole in the wall instead of Paul's dopey ass face, which kept looking over at me to see my reaction. I knew the lingerie was for my benefit more than Bella's; they wanted a reaction out of me, which they did not get... I just got a bruised knuckle. So who knew what today's _gift_ was going to be.

"I can do it for you is you want B," Jasper offered.

Bella smiled weakly at him. "No, I can do it myself, but thanks for offering," she told him.

I gave her hand a reassuring and quick squeeze under the table before she began opening it. She smiled warmly back to me. Bella carefully inspected the box and where to begin. It was as if she was defusing a bomb - the wrong tear and it would explode. Actually, that was a very fitting metaphor for this situation; one wrong step and _everything_ would be in pieces.

The wrapping paper was finally off and now all that was left to do was open the box. As she was about to open the lid, my phone distracted me. It vibrated twice, had to be a text.

_I'll be in town soon. We should really get together and catch up._

It was from Jake. What was this all about? Why the fuck was he texting me now? I looked over to his acolytes, who were all so conveniently looking in other directions. One of them must have told him precisely when to text me, either that or it was simply coincidental and I was becoming paranoid...

Caught up in my text, I had missed Bella opening the box and her initial reaction to it. She didn't look utterly pissed off, like she did yesterday with the lingerie, so it must not have been as bad. She just looked like she was inspecting what she got, which were a canteen and a candle.

"Well, I guess you've gotta give him points for creativity. Trying to keep me guessing," Bella said dryly.

"It doesn't even smell good - cheap bastard," Rosalie said, picking up the candle and sniffing it.

I looked between the two objects, they didn't really seem to go together - or go with the other stuff he'd given her before. All of us looked somewhat confused as to what all of this meant, all of us but Bella.

"It's a citronella candle. You know those things that you burn to keep bugs away - hence the smell. It's camping, it's _gotta_ be. That's what he's got planned," she explained.

"But you _loathe_ camping," Em interjected.

She blinked her eyes hard and gritted her teeth. "I know. It's a long story," she said, looking down and rubbing the side of her head.

"Why do you have a text from Jake?" Alice asked, grabbing my phone.

Bella snapped her head up, opened her eyes, and snatched the phone away from her, studying what the text said. She didn't even look at me, just at the phone.

"It literally just came, not even 30 seconds ago," I told them, but only looking at Bella's vacant expression as she still stared at the phone. I couldn't figure out what she was thinking. "Apparently, he's coming to town soon and wants to get together."

"Of course he's coming soon, there's only a two week window of opportunity of the dates or something," Jasper stated.

That bit of very important information had slipped my mind. Maybe if we were able to stave off the date long enough, the expiration on the date would expire and Bella wouldn't have to go through with it. Though there was probably some clause against that or something.

"Oh yea, I completely forgot about that," Bella said, finally pulling her eyes away from the phone's screen and rejoining the conversation.

I could tell she was still thinking about the text and evaluating what it meant, even though she was now talking to us again. Her head was somewhere else. She clung to the phone, glancing down every couple of seconds; it seemed as if she was waiting for a response or for another text to be received.

"I don't think he's going to send another one Bella," I told her.

Our entire table looked at me for an explanation on why I knew Jake's texting etiquette. "It's not like we talk now, or talked that frequently before, but it was always a back and forth thing. It's kind of like a game: one would initiate, the other would either respond with a yes or no, or try to come up with a more clever comment than the other, trying to one up him. If the person never responded back, then the issue was dropped," I further elaborated.

"So it's kinda like a whose dick is bigger competition?" Alice stated.

Em nodded his head in agreement with her deduction.

Jasper shook his head thoughtfully, though. "It's not like that. Most guys are just that way with each other. Guys don't try to understand the 'emotional subtext' or 'underlying tension' of a text or conversation like you girls do: they are literal and mean what they say. It's either a yes or no, plus the occasional fuck you. Both of them are über competitive, so that would explain the whole competitive nature of their texts," he explained.

All the girls looked a little befuddled at this. I think they thought guys spent as much time analyzing every little thing that was said, just like they did. And we did, _occasionally_, when it involved girls, but never with each other.

"Thank you Dr. Phil," Rose said, rolling her eyes at her brother. "_We've_ got to respond," she said, looking over to the girls.

"Yes, we do," Bella concurred.

She quickly began typing with my phone, mumbling something about the "damn Iphone" in the process. She kept writing and erasing; I guess she was trying to make it sound more like me.

"You know, it's probably just be easier if I..." I said, reaching for the phone.

"Shush!" Bella ordered, moving the phone but still not looking away from the screen.

"Did she really just shush me?" I asked, even though it was mostly rhetorical.

"Yes she did. Now shut up, so she can think," Alice directed.

As Alice said this, Bella placed the phone in the middle of the table. "Okay, done," she said.

I looked over at what she wrote. " 'I'm down. What were you thinking, bro?' When have I _ever_ said bro?" I asked, trying to stifle a laugh.

I knew Bella was trying her best to sound like a guy via text, which I thought was adorable, but this was all wrong. I don't think I've ever uttered the word bro, unless I was joking. In fact, unless you were Emmett who could actually pull off using that word, only douches said it. Case in point Jake, he used that fucking word _all_ the time.

"Sorry, but he's gonna know it's you responding and not me, and he's just going to mess with us even more if you send this," I told her gently.

I took the phone from the middle of the table and typed in an appropriate response, given the tone that Bella had already set. If she wanted to play along and see where this went, I'd go along with it for her.

" 'The sushi place again?' Huh?" Alice read aloud.\

"It's the place we went last time he was in town... and we were on speaking terms," I explained again.

With this Bella seemed to stiffen; something was off. Something had bothered her.

"I forgot that you guys had even gotten together before he left for school, not that I needed further explanation on what the text _literally_ meant. I'm not illiterate; I _can_ read," Alice quipped, as she looked over at Em.

"Hey! It was just one time that I didn't read something correctly via text," Em replied.

"Sure. Quick what does this say?" Jasper said, holding up his phone to Emmett's face for him to read.

No one else seemed to notice Bella's change in demeanor - they were all bickering between themselves and making light out of Emmett's text dyslexia. I was the only one who caught on to her shift.

"Ok sent," Rosalie said, placing the phone back in the middle of the table.

We all sat their silently, waiting for a response. All of us except Bella who was packing up her stuff to go, even though there was still half an hour of lunch left.

"Where are you going?" I asked, reaching under the table for her hand.

She pulled away, though, reaching for her bag instead. "Totally forgot that I need to go back to psych for lunch; Dr. Leonard asked me to meet with her to help her with a project for UDub. See you guys later," she said abruptly, rushing out of the room, without even a glance in my direction.

"Bye Bella," Paul called out.

"Tell _him_ to fuck off for me," she answered back, sweetly flipping him off as she walked out the doors.

She _pulled away_? No, she was probably just going for her bag and had to move her hand so that she could get it... I hoped. I knew she was on edge about this whole situation, but this was something else. This seemed like something directed toward _me_.

Her who demeanor had changed when I brought up the last time Jake and I hung out. Maybe she didn't like that or thought it was weird, her new boyfriend hanging out with her old one. Or maybe there was something more to it. Something did seem wrong that night between the two of them when I got there. And Bella did slap Jake - not that it probably wasn't warranted, but what led up to that. I had missed something, and now I got a feeling that what I missed was crucial.

**a shorter chapter but i hope you guys thought it worked. i feel like it had everything this chapter needed. the next one will prob be back to the normal chapter length. **

**what'd you guys think? what'd you guys think of the bed scene - i was totally on edge while writing it. thoughts, concerns?**

**i'm already working on the next chapter, i would say its about 75% done and its in bella's pov. so it hopefully won't take tooo long to get up, definitely not as long as this one.**


	27. Grievances

**wanted to send out all hopes and prayers to the people in haiti - if there is anything you can do, make sure you can do it for them. they need all of our help right now.**

**so, as almost promised on time...kinda, here's the new chapter. is a longer chapter, so i'm gonna say thats why it took longer ;)**

**thank you again to everyone who has commented on the story, you guys rock my world.**

**thanks again to amandacullen84 and silverstaged.**

**short intro this time....so enjoy**

**disclaimer: never have or will own twilight, sad day for me.**

BPOV

I briskly walked down the hall towards Psych. I hoped Dr. Leonard was actually there today, because I didn't really have a meeting with her - I just needed to get away from that table. I needed to get away from all things Edward and Jacob. I just needed to clear my head and Psych was the one place that would allow me that opportunity. As long as Dr. Leonard was actually there...

I was almost there when Victoria approached me, carefully. I guess she was still being cautious around me after our little encounter at the gala backstage. But what could she possibly want now?

"Hi Bella. I was wondering if you knew whether Cullen was in the break room?" she asked me.

Truthfully, I was ready to just keep walking and blow her off entirely. I just wasn't in the mood to deal with her, but she said that magic word that sparked my curiosity. I stopped in my tracks and faced her. I needed to know _why_ she wanted to talk to him, and I needed to know _now_.

"Yea, he's there now: at our usual table. Why?" I asked, trying to keep it cool, calm, and collected.

"Oh, I should have thought of that. I need to talk to him about the auction," she answered absent-mindedly; which I was positive she was faking.

She knew exactly where he was right now; I was sure of it. Or she should have, unless she really was a complete moron - which wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

"The auction?" I asked again, trying to keep my voice from going two to three octaves higher than it should have been.

She ran a hand through that mangle of a red mop that she calls hair; though, I suppose _some_ people probably think it's pretty. "Yeah, my parents bid on him for me and somehow I won the date. It was a complete surprise! Isn't that nice of them, though? Anyway, thanks for the help. I'll talk to you later and let you know how it goes!" she exclaimed brightly, as she walked down the hall - leaving me stunned.

My mind was flying all over the place now: from Jacob, to Edward, to Victoria. I did not see that one coming... _at all_. Somehow I managed to start walking, but didn't know exactly where I was going. I had passed the Psych room and now I was simply meandering. My body had taken over while my mind was clearly out-to-lunch, overwhelmed by all the new influx of information.

Victoria had won the date? _Bitch!_ And I bet she did that whole bit of not knowing where he was right now just to get back at me since I berated her backstage. _Bitch!_ But she didn't know we were together, so that couldn't be it. _And_ she said that her parents bid on Edward for her as a surprise, so maybe I was just over analyzing this. Who knew? All I actually knew at the moment was that my head was now killing me and that I could really use an aspirin and a drink.

"Bella? Are you okay?" Dr. Leonard asked, placing a hand on my arm.

I snapped back to reality when I heard her voice. I looked around the room to see where my body had, inadvertently, taken me. We were in the old faculty lounge; I didn't even know how I got there.

"Um...." I said shaking my head slowly, hoping that would clear my head and help me get my barings. "I'm fine; just been thinking about some things," I told her.

A warm smile crossed her lips. "Are you sure because as you came in here you were mumbling a slew of obscenities," she explained.

I was talking out-loud and didn't even know it - I was fucking going crazy. "What, exactly, was I saying?" I inquired.

She looked hesitant to repeat what I had just said. Probably, because if anyone came in or heard from outside, it would sound like she was cussing out a student but after a second or two she began. "It wasn't exactly coherent thoughts, more like a stream of consciousness. And I also didn't hear anything you had said while you were still outside," she said, pausing.

Great... So not only does she think I'm a crazy person, but, now, so does the general public. Fantastic.

"From what I could hear, it was something along of the lines of 'asshole, bitch, fucking liar, bitch, douche, bitch'... The list went on, but I think you get the general idea. It actually sounded like you were confused about whom you were cussing out," Dr. Leonard concluded.

I laughed to myself; that would be me - even my subconscious doesn't know who exactly to be mad at, at the moment. Typical. "You're probably right about that," I told her.

She sat in the arm chair across from me. We were the only people in there, seeing as how since the new wing, including a new faculty room, was built, people rarely came in here - especially teachers. The only utility this old wing really seemed to have was for people to sneak out and hook up in; that is until they tear this stuff down and rebuild this too. So this wing, and room in particular, was the perfect place to hide out in.

"Do you want to talk about it? You know everything here's confidential," she asked me.

She didn't ask like a normal teacher would have asked a student, or how a psychologist would ask a patient, but rather how a friend would ask another friend. I thought about it - maybe talking to someone who was removed from the situation would be a good thing: give me some perspective, or more so, a _new_ perspective. I just wouldn't go into _everything_ - and leave all names out of it.

I took a deep breath, here goes nothing. "Well you know the charity gala?" I asked, pausing to see if she knew what I was talking about.

She nodded her head, signaling that she knew what I was talking about and that I should proceed.

"Well, let's just say that a lot of things went down that night. The latest, I just found out about, not thirty seconds before I walked through the door. Actually, I'm not exactly sure how long I was wondering in the hall," I explained.

Dr. Leonard blinked once, as if she was trying to take in and understand that run on sentence I had just said. "Wait, slow down a little bit. So what exactly happened at the gala? I was there briefly, towards the end, but I had a prior commitment. I actually got there just in time to see you and Mr. Cullen, I think, go out. You looked stunning, by the way," she said, sweetly.

I blushed at her comment. I wasn't sure why, but I did. I think it was probably because I was surprised that she said that. "Thank you, and yes, that _was_ Edward," I told her.

"But do continue; I'm sorry for interrupting," she said with a smile that edged me to continue.

I smiled, genuinely, back to her; this was the first time I had smiled like that since the gala. "So the short of it: I figured out I loved someone that night, then when I was about to tell them, my old... whatever he is, ruined the moment, and now, I found out that someone else won the date with the so-called person I like, or love, or whatever," I very quickly stated. In fact my mouth was now super dry due to the speed I spit out that very quick explanation. I did feel better saying all of that out-loud, though; it was almost cathartic.

Dr. Leonard chuckled slightly. "Well, that sure was a short explanation. You can breathe now Bella. Is there any more to it?" she asked with a knowing look.

I was surprised that she knew, but I suppose that is her profession. "Is it really that evident?" I asked.

"No, it wasn't, but I guess now I know that there was something more. That's just a little trick of the trade. Sorry to pull that on you Bella," she explained.

"Don't worry about it - I do that too," I said with a sly grin. "And, yes, there is a _little_ more to it that makes it all a bit more complicated. Before I had even figured out that I liked this person, they saw something that happened between me and... Jacob," I said cautiously; I didn't even want to think that fucker's name, let alone, say it out loud. "He saw it happen and did nothing to intervene or help out. And this wasn't a little fight - it had gotten a little... physical. So since then, I had kind of put what happened in the back of my mind - almost to the point where I forgot about the whole thing. But I guess there was always some part of me that was fearful, or whatever... That what the two of us have is fake and that everything, all my feelings and his, are all just a lie, because of that night with Jacob. That what we have is all a game between him and Jacob, and that I'm the prize or something between their grand pissing match. I don't know... does that even make sense?" I concluded, emotionally exhausted.

I definitely needed that drink now - and make it a double.

She nodded her head, reassuring me that she got everything that I had just said. "Yes, it all makes sense. You don't trust him completely, which you need to do in a healthy relationship. You don't feel as if you can trust _his_ feelings for you because of that night and you don't want to allow yourself to get closer if it's all just an act. Am I close?" she asked.

I nodded my head, taking a sip of water to alleviate the burning in my throat. I wasn't sure if it was burning because I had talked too much or because I was trying to hold back the tears. I was totally drained by thinking about this again, and I was becoming a lot more emotional than I expected.

"Are you sure he saw what you think he did? Because maybe this is all just a big misunderstanding. I know that there's a lot going on, but this is most likely the underlying problem in your relationship. If you can't trust someone, especially someone you think you love, then is it really even a relationship? My advice: you need to go talk to _him_ about this," she advised.

Again, I saw that knowing look in her eyes. "You know who I've been talking about don't you?" I asked her, resigned to the fact that everyone probably knew Edward and I were together.

"This is the basis for any and all relationships - it doesn't matter who it is," she said with a twinkle in her eyes. "Bella, go home and relax. You should think about this and try not to stress out. I know you're thinking, 'yeah right, don't stress out' and probably what the hell does this old lady know, but everything will work out for the best, even if it doesn't seem like it at the time. Here's a pass; I'll see you tomorrow. You deserve a day off, so go," she said, handing me the pass.

I looked down at the pass, taking in everything she had just said. Maybe she was right; maybe Edward hadn't seen what I thought he did... Then again, maybe he did. She had given me a lot to think about and made me think about doing something that I didn't particularly want to do: talk to him about that night.

I blushed yet again; I had never been that open before with anybody, including Alice. "Thank you for taking the time to talk to me through your lunch," I told her, giving her a hug. She seemed a little taken aback at first, but eventually returned the hug.

"Don't worry about it; I enjoyed spending this time with you. Don't tell anyone else, but you're my favorite student by far," she said, releasing the hug.

"No worries, because your my favorite teacher. And I can't have _that_ going around school," I said with a laugh and blinking back the tears that were welling my eyes; I didn't realize I had become that emotional during our talk. "Thank you again," I said, reaching for the door knob.

"And Bella," she called out, causing me to pause, "you two make a very attractive couple. He's a _very_ lucky guy."

"Thanks Dr. L," I said, exiting the room.

* * *

It was now the weekend and I still hadn't taken Dr. L's advice and spoken with Edward about the whole situation. I had done more or less done what I usually did, and did the opposite of what she said, avoiding the issue all together. This, also, meant avoiding any and all alone time with him – and I was really starting to miss that bastard. We were all meeting up for dinner tonight, so at least I would get to see him there.

I heard chatter coming from down stairs; Em must be here already. I grabbed a jacket, since it was still freezing outside, and scurried down the stairs, grabbing my purse along the way. Tonight was nothing fancy, just dinner and a movie.

"Edward? You're not Emmett," I said slowly, almost shocked that he was currently standing in my foyer and speaking with my mother.

"Bella," he said, reaching for my hand and pulling me close to him.

I couldn't help but smile at this little action; I really did love being around him.

I could hear an "aw" escape my mom's throat, which I knew she was trying to keep to herself. At this point, both of our parents knew we were together and _loved_ it. In fact, I think mom, Esme, and Alice had all started arranging and plotting our huge, grandiose wedding – it was all a bit much.

As soon as mom's "aw" came out, so did that ominous black cloud. It came zooming back, as well as the reality of what was going on between Edward and I. My happy place of just the two of us, drama free and skipping through a forest, shot to hell.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered, so mom couldn't hear.

"Picking you up. You've been avoiding," he whispered back, giving a brief wave to mom as we exited towards the front door.

"If you're going to be late, feel free to just stay at Emmett's," mom called out before the door shut.

Once we were out of parental eye range, Edward leaned down and pulling me closer for a proper hello; a hello we hadn't had in a _very_ long time. Well, really, about a week, but that was a long time for us.

My hands reached up to his neck and found their favorite place in his perfectly tousled bronze locks. I felt his thumb gently massaging the back of my neck as our lips finally met, while his other hand reached around my waist and pulled me closer to him and slightly picking me up. I loved it when he did that.

Once he put me back on the ground, though, I really felt like I was still walking on air. I rested my head against his chest, just taking in the closeness of this moment. These are moments that we don't usually get, so this needed to be savored and appreciated.

"_And_, I haven't been avoiding," I said, dodging any form of eye contact, so that he couldn't tell that I was lying, by snuggling closer to his chest.

He wrapped his arms tighter around me and kissed the top of my head. "Sure you haven't… avoider," he teased.

"Am not!" I protested, looking up at him and scrunching my face.

"Okay…" he replied, nodding facetiously.

I narrowed my eyes at him, disapprovingly. I knew that I was lying and avoiding; I just hated being called on it. "Whatever," I said rolling my eyes, "let's just go to dinner," finally breaking our embrace but still holding his hand and dragging him to the car.

He followed me, opening my side of the car – ever the gentleman – before he went to his. "We can go, but we still haven't dealt with your avoidance issue," he commented.

"And, pray tell, what avoidance issue is that, exactly?" I asked innocently, as I buckled up, preparing for the speed demon to take off.

That whole family drove like they were in Nascar.

"One," he said looking over at me as he sped down my driveway and gate at 100 miles per hour, "the fact that we have yet to discuss my auction date. And two, what's going to happen with you and that douchebag," he concluded.

"So I see Victoria's spoken with you then?" I asked quietly, playing with my hair and looking out the speeding trees outside my window.

He didn't seem to hear the irritation in my voice, and merely continued. "I spoke with her briefly about where and when to meet, but nothing else really. This date seems pretty routine and perfectly harmless," he told me.

I looked at him skeptically. Yeah, perfectly harmless to _him_! I saw how other girls looked at him, and _nothing_ about their looks were harmless. It seemed like anywhere we went, women of all ages, threw themselves at him. I trusted no girls around him, aside from Alice and Rosalie, because they were actually related to him – and truthfully, if Rose didn't have Emmett, I probably wouldn't like her hanging out with him too much either. They were only family by marriage, not blood. I wasn't so stupid to think that Victoria, who was just this average girl and had a mild allegiance to me, was above trying to get with Edward.

"So where and when is this alleged date of yours? Where shall you be meeting her?" I asked, annoyed I even had to utter the question.

We shouldn't even be having this conversation. He shouldn't even be considering going on this date with her, let alone _actually_ going on it. All this planning and fretting should be non-existent, because this date should have been with me. It wasn't like I was jealous that he was having the date with her or anything…

He glanced over at me again, still not noticing that I was getting even more annoyed by talking about this. "Since the bid included a room at the hotel, we're going to meet at my room, next Saturday, and go to dinner. That's it, easy – it should all be over in an hour or so. Then, I figured you…" he explained.

The rest of what he said turned into white noise, though. There was no reason for him to even continue. I was now at my wits end and that annoyance had turned into rage. He and she, in a hotel room, alone, was not _okay._ "Um, do you not see a problem here?" I asked calmly, cutting him off.

He furrowed his brows, still oblivious. "Problem?" he repeated, clearly not sure where I was going with this.

I sighed loudly, keeping my inner bitch bottled up. "Why exactly do you have to meet her in your _hotel room_? Just because the hotel is offered doesn't mean that you have to _use it_. Was this her idea?" I asked, surprised by how calm I still was.

We had now pulled up to the restaurant and had stopped the car to valet. The valet had come up and opened my door, but I kept my hand on the door, signaling I wasn't ready to get out just yet. I shot Edward a warning look as well; signaling that is was in his best interest, at the moment, to stay in the car too.

He shook his head at the valet as he tried to open the door for him as well. "No, it wasn't her idea, it was mine. She wasn't sure on the time to meet up, so I offered her to come up to my room whenever she was ready. Then I figured that you guys could all come over afterwards and we could hang out, since I think everyone else is doing their auction date then too. You know, you could stay over and we could finally have some time together, away from everyone else and away from all the other stuff we've been dealing with," he explained, reaching for my hand.

His explanation was useless; he clearly didn't see why this idea had _all_ kinds of things wrong with it and why I would _clearly_ be upset over this. If this hadn't involved him going on a date with someone else, his naiveté would be endearing.

I moved my hand away from his and motioned towards the door. "You see no problem, _at all_, with her going up to _your room_, when _no one else_ is there? You couldn't have her call when she actually got there? You don't see a problem with me coming over, _after_ you meet another girl there for _a date_? That's _fine_… _perfectly_ fine," I told him, over articulating certain phrases and opening my door and leaving him in the car.

I walked past Emmett and Rosalie and into the restaurant; I didn't want to give Edward the chance of catching up with me.

Alice quickly made her way over to me, as I rushed my ass to the bar. "Is something wrong Bells?" she asked.

I sighed, grabbing a shot that was being poured for someone else, and motioned for the bartender to keep these bad boys coming. "Your cousin's a dumbass; that's my problem," I told her before I downed the shot. Tequila - perfect.

She and Jasper exchanged looks: they were definitely on some sort of other wavelength, communicating only through silent facial expressions, body movements, and nods. Damn them with their drama free, and easy relationship. God, I envied them.

"So what happened B?" Jasper asked.

I handed each of them a shot and then downed the one that was in front of me. "You know, nothing major. He's just going on a date with Victoria next week: they are going to dinner at the hotel. Oh, and did I forget to mention that he's meeting her in his hotel room before the date and that after they finish this 'alleged harmless date', he wants me to come over so that we can spend some quality time together. He wants us to spend time together, just the two of us… after his fucking _date_ with another fucking _girl_. I really don't think that I'm overreacting," I explained, taking Jasper's shot too, now, and getting progressively louder as I neared the end of my explanation.

Both Alice and Jasper made a wincing motion at this. Jasper seemed to understand why I was upset; why didn't Edward? Times like these made me think about why I wasn't dating Jasper… things would be so much easier that way.

I now reached for Alice's shot, but her hand blocked mine and she downed the shot. "I'll be right back. And Jazz, don't let her have anymore," she said, flittering towards the door, not even giving me a chance to stop her.

"Come on, we'll get this all figured out," Jasper said, placing his hand around my waist to help me get to the table and motioning with his other for the bartender to stop pouring. "Let's get to our table and get some food in you."

I nodded in agreement with him as I hopped of the bar stool, but not before I was able to manage one last shot in before J finally pried me away from the bar. "Fine, I'll go. Kill joy." I retorted.

It was a short, yet assisted, walk to our table. By the time we had gotten there everyone else was already sitting. There were only two open seats left: one next to Edward and the other next to Stanley. I knew it was a larger dinner tonight, with our larger, extended, group of friends, but I had no idea that she was coming. So where to sit? Next to one of the skankiest people I've ever met, or the boyfriend who is being a complete nincompoop?

Skank it is.

Jasper and I glanced at each other, knowing the move I was about to make and trying to angle his body closer to Stanley's chair. He was trying to force me next to Edward, but I wasn't having any of that. I was closer to her chair and therefore beat him to the punch. He was now forced to sit next to Edward – ha!

As I claimed my spot, placing my purse and jacket down, Stanley looked like she was trying to figure out why I had chosen that seat; because God knows, under normal circumstances, you couldn't get me that close to her without a hazmat suit. I was sitting between her and Tyler, away from Alice, Jasper and Edward, who would have all made me try to work it out at the table and put on a happy face in front of everyone. I didn't want to put on a freaking happy face and pretend like everything was fine, though; I wanted time to be upset. And this seat allowed me the freedom to have that and to do whatever I wanted – including drink some more, which I'm sure Edward would not be thrilled with.

I looked over at Stanley's untouched drink. "Any good?" I asked.

Again, she looked surprised that I had said anything to her. I guess a couple shots and being pissed off would get me to talk to _anyone_. You learn something new every day. "Dunno, haven't tried it yet," she responded.

I looked down at the drink and cocked my head: it was a pinkish drink in a tall glass, shouldn't be too bad. But who was I kidding, it really didn't matter. Even if this thing tasted like turpentine, I would have drunk it right now. I jacked her drink and downed half the thing in two sips.

"Damn Bella, thirsty?" Tyler joked.

I just nodded my head; there was no way I was about to concoct some farfetched story to explain my behavior tonight.

Stanley motioned to the waiter. "I'm going to need another one," she told him.

"Make that two," I added on.

She looked at me suspiciously, but then gave me a small smile. She was probably pleased that we were having some sort of moment. I drunkenly smiled back – well I wasn't exactly drunk, but that's most likely what everyone else thought at the table due to this monumental event of actually being cordial to Stanley.

Edward shot me a fleeting look, almost saying why are you doing this, but I looked away. I didn't need his judgmental gaze on me right now. I turned to the conversation my side of the table was having as I silently sipped the rest of Stanley's drink.

As I was nearing the bottom of the drink, I felt my ass beginning to vibrate – my phone was still in my jacket pocket. I reached down and took it out: a text from Edward.

_Don't do this right now_

I could sense the warning, concern, and tension in the text; the overall tone was clear. It was a warning and a plea all at the same time.

I smirked towards him, pleased that there was nothing he could do to stop me from whatever it was that he didn't want me to do. He couldn't help the situation and felt incapacitated by the situation – now he knew how I felt, and I wasn't about to help the situation. Right now, that thing that he didn't want me to do was drink. So clearly, I was going to do the opposite of what he wanted me to do, and possibly a little excessively just for good measure.

The waiter came back and gave us our replenished libations. He began taking food orders as well, but I wasn't hungry. I began texting Edward back.

_Do what? Cheers_

I tipped my glass ever so slightly to him. He was not a happy camper.

"Bella, it's your turn to order. What do you want?" Jasper pushed, trying to force me to order something.

He knew, as well as every one of my other close friends, that when I start drinking, I rarely ate anything. It just didn't go for me. I'd eat before or I'd eat after, but it was never during, which _was_ kinda weird.

"I'm not hungry; don't worry about me," I said seductively to the waiter, winking at him. I completely dismissed what Jazz had said.

This, too, was something specifically for Edward's benefit. What can I say, when I drink I flirt. I just can't help myself…

"Are you sure about this?" Edward's voice pressed, the meaning behind his words having two connotations.

"I'm sure," I replied cheerfully, taking yet another sip from my drink.

"No problem, Ms. Swan," the waiter said with a smile, "let me know if there's _anything_ else you'd like," he flirted back.

I couldn't have planned this any better. The waiter was cute and was totally playing along, though; he probably thought that I was actually being serious. I held the waiter's gaze but snuck a peek out of the corner of my eye to Edward, who looked as if steam was about to come out of his ears.

"He's cute. A little common, but hot nonetheless," Stanley whispered to me after the waiter had moved on.

I took another large sip, emptying my glass yet again. The cutie waiter saw this and motioned that he'd bring me another. I politely smiled back. "I know, right?" I told her.

And this was how the night progressed: casual conversation, some interesting glances from across the table, causal flirting – which became a little more overt with every downed drink – and some minor excessive drinking.

By the end of the night, I was four shots, five long islands, and a dinner roll and a half in. Apparently, I was on the liquid diet tonight.

"Bella, will you come to the bathroom with me?" Alice asked, crouching down next to me.

"Go with Rose. I dunwanna go," I slurred, slurping the remainder of the melted ice from my emptied long island.

"Oh yes you do," she said, yanking me from my chair and dragging me away from the table.

She grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the bathroom, locking it once we were inside and after she checked to make sure no one else was in there. I guess we were having secret girl time… or Alice was about to lecture me.

"Okay, I know you're mad at Edward, which is warranted and all, but this is going out of hand – playtime is over Bells. He's getting really upset and the waiter is actually taking you seriously, though, _that_ is kind of hysterical. Besides, you're almost to the point where you are sloppy drunk, in public: that's not okay, and friends don't let friends do that," she preached.

I was right. It was option number two: lecture.

I looked at myself in the mirror to see if she was really right that I was on the way to being sloppy drunk. It didn't look that way to me. I looked perfectly fine, not even a hair was out of place. My makeup was still intact, no eyeliner or mascara had run – in fact it looked like I had just finished doing my makeup. The only thing I did notice were my eyes, which did look a bit glazed over and my pupils were kind of dilated.

"I look fabstacular," I said, smiling at her.

"Fabstacular? Now clearly that's the word of someone who is cold sober…" Alice replied, attempting to clean me up by smoothing my hair.

I let Alice work her magic as I stood there motionless. It was getting hot in there and any and all movement was causing me to quickly overheat. "It's like a million degrees in here, don't you think? Are you almost done yet?" I asked, picking up the Evian mist and spraying myself with it.

"Hot? God, your cheeks are all flushed, again. What the hell? Let's get out of here; I've done all that I can do with you," Alice said, unlocking the door. "_And_, you're talking to Edward when we get out, though, I'm not sure how much good that's going to do when you can't even form a coherent sentence," she commanded, finally opening the door and pushing me out.

Air! I felt the cool breeze of the air conditioning as it hit my face and enveloped my body; this was glorious. But then it donned on me what she had just said; I was supposed to speak to Edward now and I stopped in my tracks. "No. Nope, sorry, that's not going to happen," I told her, as I took a nearby seat and held onto the chair so that she couldn't move me.

She frowned at me. "Oh yes you are. One way or another, your ass is going to talk to him. You can either do this the easy way or the hard way Bella," she told me.

I stuck my tongue out at her and looked in the opposite direction, tightening my grip on the chair. That munchkin wasn't going to move me anywhere.

"Fine – hard way it is," Alice groaned, going back to the table.

Then I was finally alone, but what was I going to do now? I made my point that I wasn't going to do anything that I didn't want to do and that I wasn't about to _discuss_ things with Edward, but that meant also not being able to go back to the table where the rest of my friends were. So I had to stay in this stupid chair, by myself, long enough to make a statement to all of them… I hadn't thought this rationale out too well. Point for LA, I wouldn't be having this freaking problem there.

"Hey Bella," an unfamiliar voice called out.

I looked around and noticed that it was coming from the hot waiter. I supposed talking to him was better than talking to no one. "Hey…" I began, forgetting his name and scanning his chest for a name tag, "Felix. What's going on?" I asked him.

He looked a little nervous talking to me one on one, but still had a bit of arrogance as well. "Nothing much; I just wanted to see if you wanted to do something later. I get off in like twenty minutes, so we could grab a drink or _something_…" he said.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Edward coming out of the men's room, which I'm sure he was doing just so he could spy on me. It's not like he actually needed to go or anything. So, with this, I decided to continue playing along with all the flirting.

"Twenty minutes, huh? Well, I don't know if we'll still be around by then, but I'll give you my number and maybe we can meet up," I cooed, again trying to flirt it up for Edward's benefit.

I saw Edward shake his head and walk back towards the table. This _was_ a little mean, I'll admit, but he needed to learn his lesson or whatever…

Felix smiled back and me; I had to admit that he was pretty attractive. "Sounds good. Here's my phone, just type everything in," he instructed.

I took the phone, but before I knew it, I was up in the air.

"Sorry man, but you won't be getting her number tonight, or come to think of it, any night," Emmet told him.

Emmett had slung me over his shoulder and was not reaching for the phone in my over extended arm. All he had to do was extend his arm halfway and he had the phone. What was up with all the guys around me having ridiculously long arms and being substantially taller than me; what where they, giants?

"Why don't you let her decide if she wants to give me her number or not," Felix pressed.

Oh no, that was a bad move on his part. This guy might be older than Em, but Emmett towered over this fool. I tried craning myself around Emmett's body, to see what was going on exactly, but that took too much effort while being intoxicated.

"Bro, you don't want to go there," Em warned, taking a step towards Felix.

"Emmett! Just go back to the table and put me down!" I called out, trying to diffuse some of the tension.

We started moving towards the front of the restaurant and back to our table. "No can do Bells. I'm under direct orders to specifically hand you off to only one person," he told me, as we walked past tables full of people who were still dining.

This was mortifying. I was being carried through a packed restaurant, Tarzan and Jane status, slung over someone's shoulder. This couldn't get any worse.

"I told you to come the easy way, but _nooooo_ you wanted it your way. Well, now it's my way," Alice gloated.

I tried reaching for her, but being upside down and facing Emmett's ass didn't really help matters. I couldn't reach her at all.

The three of us continued walking until we were at the back of the restaurant, waiting for the special valet to arrive. From this angle, it looked like Em's car just got there, so he would have to put me down in order to drive.

Still unable to look up, I saw some very familiar shoes walk closer to the three of us. I just knew that Edward had that damn smug grin on his face, even though I couldn't actually see it; I still knew it was there. "Oh no you don't," I told Em, but I was completely ignored.

"Take your woman," he said, handing me off to Edward.

I looked up and saw that I had been correct: he had been smug with a hint of being pissed off as well. I held onto Emmett for dear life. "No, it's okay. I think I'll just stay with you a little longer," I told them both, clinging to Em's arm.

"No, it's my turn, _Ms. Swan_," Edward said, adjusting me over his shoulder.

I guess I was just a rag doll tonight that everyone thought they could toss around. "Put-me-down!" I growled/slurred at Edward.

"Feisty now, aren't we," he said with a chuckle. "We'll meet up with you guys later," he told everyone else.

"Down!" I ordered.

"Yeah right. That's not happening," he said.

I watched as the other car left. Now, there was really no choice but to stay with Edward. Damn it.

"Just put me down," I pleaded, trying the nice approach.

"No, I think you're good this way – no chance of escape," he teased.

He was enjoying this…. What a bastard.

"Put me down, put me down, put me down," I commanded, pounding my fists on his back.

"You hit me, I hit you," he told me, slapping me on the ass.

Ooh! I was not expecting that, and he called _me_ feisty. I checked to see if I could reach down to slap his ass back, but that jackass had thought ahead and made sure that I was far enough away so I wouldn't be able to reach him. Then it hit me, the one thing that he would _have_ to put me down for.

"Edward, I think I'm going to be sick," I said, in my weakest voice.

He paused for a moment, considering if I was lying or not. He probably knew I was lying, but he also didn't want to run the chance that I wasn't – this was a risky little game he was playing. It was like Russian Roulette, but with vomit.

He loosened his grip and I slowly began to slink down his body, as his right arm held me in place so that I wouldn't fall. I didn't know if it was the liquor or what, but every small movement that either of us made was like a pleasant electric shock that ran through my body. I could feel every little muscle movement he made and breath he took – this was amazing, it was like we were totally in sync with each other. As my head finally made it past his shoulder, I saw his face and we locked eyes. He held me tightly to him just for a moment, staying still as statues, before he allowed me to continue sliding down his body until I felt the ground underneath me.

At this moment, there was nothing I wanted to do more than pounce on him in this alley. Fuck it if anybody saw us, or that we were in public. Right now, all I wanted to do was jump on top of him and have my way with him. That sounded amazing to me.

He tightened his grip around my waist as I balled the middle of his shirt with my fist, bringing him closer to me. He leaned his head down, allowing me to take in his cologne as he smelled my hair. Fuck it; we _were_ having sex in this alley, _right now_. I really could care less who saw. I braced myself, anticipating a forceful and passionate kiss; I felt the heat rising between the two of us and I knew it was coming. He reached his head further down as I tilted my head up, so that his mouth was mere centimeters away from mine. I closed my eyes in anticipation.

"Okay faker, let's talk now," he said, pulling slightly away.

_What_?! All this, just to get me to talk to him? He wants to talk instead of having hot, public, alley sex? He had to be insane.

"You want to talk _now_? At this very second? After _all that_?" I asked shocked, waving my hand up and down at him.

I did not want to talk right now. And I especially did not want to do anything that involved actual coherent words coming out of my mouth. I was neither in the right mood to talk nor in the proper mental capacity to have this type of in depth and rationale conversation. If I were to express how I was feeling right now, I doubt he'd want to hear it, _and_ I would probably come off sounding like some sort of bumbling idiot.

"All this? Now, whatever do you mean?" he asked innocently, stifling a grin.

"I hate you," I said, rapidly pulling away from him, which wasn't best idea.

Due to the speed that I moved away, the amount of liquor coursing through my system, and the fact that I'm the most uncoordinated person in the world around Edward, I completely stumbled and fell on my ass.

"Maybe I shouldn't have put you down," he commented, looking down at me.

"Maybe I shouldn't have put you down…" I mocked in a huff, glaring at him.

The door to the back opened again and that waiter dude from before came out; the twenty minutes must have been up. Now what was his name again? I knew it started with an F. Frank? Fred? Fabio? No Felix! That was it. He started walking over to us and motioned to help me up.

"Hey Bella, didn't know you were still here. Guess your bodyguard is gone now though," he said.

Edward anticipated his movement and got in his way, making his own move to help me up instead. He gently pulled me up and protectively, put one arm around my waist to hold me up, while his other hand was holding my hand. "We were just leaving," Edward told him.

"You sure about that, man?" Felix asked, smugly to Edward.

I felt Edward's arm tighten around my waist and saw his jaw clinch slightly. I didn't know if this was jealously or anger… or possibly a little of both.

"It's her choice," he said to Felix, not loosening his grip at all. "She can do whatever she would like."

Both looked down at me for an answer. I _could_ play with Edward a little more, especially after the fucking stunt he just pulled, but I was starting to get a little woozy. The lack of food was really starting to get to me.

"Can I grab your parking ticket, Mr. Cullen, so I can pull your car around," the valet called out to Edward.

He checked to make sure I was okay to stand on my own, I signaled by nodding my head ever so slightly, before he let go of me and walked over to the podium.

Felix watched until Edward was a sufficient distance away before he made his next move. "So there's a party some friends are having not too far away if you'd like to come," he told me, wrapping his arm around my waist.

He took the open opportunity Edward left him and quickly moved in. He might have even coordinated for the valet to come over and talk with Edward to get him away from me – what a shmuck if that was the case, though ballsy. At this point, I needed help standing in one place, since I kept swaying back and forth. Felix's arm was helping me stay in one place, though, I didn't want it to be. I was over playing this little game; I just wanted Edward and I wanted Felix to be gone.

I looked over at Edward. He seemed to be having a little difficulty finding the valet slip; which was probably because he was staring at the placement of Felix's arm around my waist.

"A party?" I said, turning towards Felix. "Um, I don't know if I'm really up for that. I'm getting a little tired," I told him.

He moved closer to me. "I promise I'll make it worth your wild," he whispered in my ear.

Ugg; now his ass was _really_starting to piss me off. Of course, he thought he was smoother than Johnny Depp in Don Juan Di Marco – though no one is that suave… well, maybe Edward. I smiled to myself with that thought. "I'm sure you _think_ you can rock my world or whatever, but I _highly_ doubt you would or could live up to a fragment of what I expect out of a guy, Freddie," I told him, deliberately fucking up his name for the final dig. "Edward, I'm ready to go," I called out to him.

He was by my side in a flash. Dear Felix still hadn't moved his hand away though – clearly not taking the hint or not used to be rejected. But really, I was waaaaay out of his league.

"I would suggest you move your hand," Edward growled.

They both stared the other down for a while before Felix finally let go of me. Edward's arm was comfortably around my waist before Felix's was completely away. This was right; _his_ arm fit the crook of my body perfectly, not Felix's. I sighed contently to myself, which Edward picked up on and smiled at, but still not blinking away from Felix's gaze.

"The car's here," I told him in an effort to distract him, pulling him towards the car. I really didn't want a fight to go down.

As we walked he finally stopped glaring at Felix. He opened the door for me and placed me into the seat. At this point I was donzo; I needed help with everything.

"You smell nice," I told him as he buckled my seat belt.

"I believe you've told me that before, last time you were this hammered," he said, with his beautiful crooked smile.

Man, I love that smile.

I thought about that as he got into the driver's side. "I did not! Well… maybe," I told him, giggling.

"Well this is going to be a productive evening with you giggles," he said, laughing as well.

I giggled even more to the fact that he called me giggles. He was being a fucking riot now.

I turned around in my seat so that I was now facing him instead of the windshield. "Oh, it was totally productive: you were jealous!" I told him. "You were jealous of Felix. You were jealous of Felix," I sang.

He shifted around in his seat, because he knew I was right. "I was not," he huffed, glancing over to me.

I moved a little closer to him, so that I was now leaning over onto his side of the car. "Oh _really_? Cause I think you totally were. You're face got all red, _and_ you clinched your jaw, _and_you kinda growled at him…but that was kinda hot," I told him, deviating from my point a little bit. "So just admit it Edward Anthony Masen Cullen: you were jealous! And by the way, you've got a lot of names…" I rambled.

"Wow, you just middle named me. This _must_ be serious," he teased. "And what was this about me being hot…?"

I disregarded the last comment, because that wasn't supposed to have slipped out. I moved away from him and looked around because the car had stopped. "Wait, where are we?' I asked.

He opened his door, making his way to my side. "We're at Em's house, because there is no way I'm taking you to yours in this condition. Your parents love me, and I'm not about to tarnish that by bringing you home plastered. And good job on avoiding questions, yet again," he told me while helping me out of the car.

I waited as he locked up the Vanquish and then jumped on his back for a piggy back ride: one, because it was fun, and two, because I couldn't maneuver up all those stairs right now.

"Just admit it: you were jealous," I whispered in his ear.

He turned his head towards mine. "You know you really need to eat something," he told me.

"I'm not hungry," I lied, because I could really go for a Sourdough Jack right now. "But if you _admit_ you were jealous, I'll consider eating something," I bargained with him.

He considered it for a minute as we walked into the house. Em's parents were both away on business so we had the place to ourselves until everyone else got back.

"Eat something and then I'll _consider_ telling you if I was or was not jealous," he said opening the refrigerator.

My eyes widened. "So you were jealous! You totally just admitted it! I _knew_ it!" I gloated.

He handed me a bag of chips and gigantic bottle of water which I readily accepted, since I was on the brink of starvation right now. "I neither confirmed nor denied anything," Edward said with a laugh.

We were then on the move again – this time going upstairs. All these damn stairs and the food was making it hard to hold on to him.

He placed me down on the ground as we walked into my and Alice's room. "Time for you to change. Do you think you can manage this on your own?" he asked with a sly smirk.

"Of course I can change on my own…" I slurred, placing the food and water on the floor and then, daintily, taking off my heels – dropping my height by three or four inches, making Edward even more of a giant.

"Alright, I'll be right back. I'm gonna go grab some clothes from Em's room – just yell if you need me," he told me as he exited the room.

I swayed to my drawer and found a pair of shorts and a tank top that I wore as pjs. I laid them on the bed and then began the arduous process of taking off what I already had on. I started with my pants, which seemed easy enough: unbutton the top, unzip the fly, and then you're done… one would think. That whole damn process took five minutes to get off. But, I finally managed to get them off and pulled on my shorts.

Next came my top. Again, just pull it over the head and I should be done. I took a deep breath, getting ready for the task. I lifted the bottom and began pulling it over my head, but I got about halfway and then the damn thing wouldn't budge. I tried pulling it down, but again the shirt wouldn't move. So now I was stuck with my shirt halfway off, over my head and covering my face so that I couldn't see anything. In fact, all I could see was the purple fabric in front of my face.

"Edward! Edward!" I yelled, hopping in place to try to get the shirt to inch down a little bit so that I could see.

Silence. Nothin.

I tried calling again, "Edward?"

This time I heard movement and then the door open. I stopped hopping in time to hear the muffled laughter. "What's wrong?" he asked, not-so silently containing his laughter.

"I'm stuck," I pouted. "Don't laugh at me."

"I'm not laughing... I'm just… observing the situation," he quipped.

"Well, instead of observing, could you please help me?" I asked.

He moved closer to me. "Of course I can, just don't move; I don't want you to fall over or anything," he told me.

He tried yanking the shirt up and then down and nothing. "What the hell did you do to it? Why won't this thing come off?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I just tried to take it off; I didn't do anything I don't usually do. See, I managed to take my pants off with no problem," I told him, swinging my hips towards him so that he could see that I was now in shorts and not the pants I was in before.

I heard him take a deep breath. "So I see," he said, still playing with the shirt. "Hold on, turn around. Let me see the back," he instructed.

I did as I was told and spun around slowly.

He sighed. "Bella this has a zipper – _that's_ why you're stuck and the way you pulled it, it's stuck even more," he told me.

Oh yea; he's right, this shirt did have a zipper. I totally forgot about it.

"Well can you undo it?" I asked.

"I'm working on it; give me a minute," he told me, as he tugged me a little bit back and forth working the zipper.

I felt his hands grasping the fabric and steadily undoing the zipper. For a moment I thought about how many other times he had done this exact same thing with other girls. Well, maybe not the exact same thing; I doubt most girls get stuck in their clothes when they are around Edward. Maybe I shouldn't be thinking about him and other girls right now…

"Turn back towards me; the shirt's wrapped around you," he said.

Again, I turned so that I was now facing him. I still couldn't see in front of me, but if I looked up I could see the top of his head.

He unzipped some more and I felt the fabric loosen. He had gotten it completely unzipped. I held my hands above my head, signaling to just take the damn shirt off for me since I had been having so much trouble before. He slowly removed the shirt, taking it over my head and tossing it on the bed. We both stood there looking at each other, as I swayed back and forth. He reached around my bare waist and steadied me, probably scarred that I was just going to keel over.

"Why is it that when we're together I'm always either in a bra or towel?" I asked with an arched brow.

He grinned. "I don't know, but I'm not complaining. In fact, I'd be okay with it if you ran around like this all the time…" he commented.

"Well that would be no good, because then, you see, we'd just run into more jealousy issues and I know much you just _looooove_ being put in those situation," I told him, reaching up and tapping him on the nose.

"Are we on this, again? I much prefer the topic of you in a towel or bra," he commented.

I reached for my tank top and pulled it on. I snuggled closer to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. "If you just admitted to it, then the issue would be dropped," I said.

He arched an eyebrow, wrapping his arms around my back. "Would it really?" he inquired.

I bit my lip to try to hide my smile. "Probably not…" I answered.

"So there is no point in answering then. It's really a no win situation for me," he replied.

I went and plopped on the bed. "You're no fun you know that," I told him.

He came and sat next to me. "I'm no fun because I won't answer this stupid question, which really has no relevance to fun at all," he stated.

"Don't try to get all intellectual and rational now," I told him.

"Why, cause you can't keep up at the moment?" he teased.

"Sobribrity has nothing to do with it," I said, realizing that I had just said the word incorrectly.

"Sure it doesn't," he laughed, pulling me onto his lap. "Okay, fine. So let's turn this around then; would you tell me if you were jealous?" he asked.

Whoa. I did not see that one coming. I played with the drawstrings on the sweatshirt he was wearing, again, so I would have to face him directly.

"Hypothetically speaking; sure, I'd admit to it," I told him.

"Bella?" he pressed, nudging me with his shoulder to look at him.

"What?" I asked, looking him in the eye.

"Would you?' he asked again.

"I said yes…" I told him. "But I asked you the question first, so you have to answer."

"Who made up that rule?" he asked.

"I did. Now you can either play along or we can go to bed," I explained.

"I vote for bed," he answered.

I sighed. "Okay, let's go to bed then. You turn off the lights," I said abruptly, getting up and getting under the covers.

He sat there for a moment, maybe a little unsure of what just happened. I'm sure he thought that the banter was going to go on a little bit longer. After a minute or two, he got up, turned off the lights and climbed into bed with me.

And then there was silence, lots of silence. Both of us were facing each other and pretending that we were asleep, which was probably a lot easier for me seeing as how I was now exhausted, and sleep would also cure the hunger pains that I had. Maybe I could text Alice to bring me some food…

"Are you awake?" he asked.

I pretended to snore. "Clearly, I'm asleep," I joked.

"Oh good, me too," he said.

I cozied up to him, and felt his arm slide across my waist under the cover. He gently massaged the small of my back. "You know, I would tell you if I was jealous," I told him, looking up at him.

"I'm sure you would," he said, kissing my forehead.

"No I really would" I said, pulling away a little to actually look him in the face. I wanted to see his reaction.

"I know you would; you just wouldn't say it out loud. You would do things to express that. Things, I don't know, maybe similar to tonight's antics of getting me jealous to let me know that you were jealous," he stated.

I thought about what he said for a moment, making sure I understood what I thought he said. Again, the alcohol was clouding my capacity to see things clearly, but I still thought I got it – he was jealous! "So, did you just say that you were jealous?" I asked, hoping it was for the last time.

He smiled at me. "Let's just say, when you are with any other guy, I envy him just a little. And maybe tonight, I was a little more envious than usual," he said.

I smiled, widely, and almost jumped on top of him. "You were jealous!" I said, satisfied with myself.

This was a feat. I made Edward Cullen jealous, how many people can say they've done that?

I got down from on top of the bed, dizzy again from moving too fast, and sat down on the bed.

"Are you done gloating?" he asked, holding the covers up for me so that I could get in.

I smiled wide, again. "Yes, yes I am done gloating," I said, crawling under the covers and semi on top of him, giving him a kiss. "And just so you know, I am jealous that Victoria gets to go out with you in public and I don't," I told him in all seriousness.

He smoothed the top of my hair and made his way to the bottom, playing with the ends. "I know. I wish it was you that I was going with, but we both know why that's not the case. And just so you know, I'm not thrilled with the fact that I have to go out with her, I'm just fulfilling my obligation. You're the only one I want to spend my time with; just don't tell that to Emmett, he'd be heartbroken," he said.

I made a cross over my heart and nodded my head. "Your secret's safe with me," I said, moving closer to him.

He moved closer to me too. "You know, you did get me pretty good tonight, with that _waiter_," he said.

"What? Do you have a problem with the service industry?" I teased, brushing my lips against his.

"Under normal circumstances, no, but when they are trying to hit on my girlfriend, then yes," he explained, mimicking my same actions.

I shifted so that I was now on top of him. I gave him a quick peck. "Why how elitists of you. So if this was a prince you would have no qualms with letting _him_ flirt with your girlfriend?" I asked, giving him a lingering kiss on of his neck.

I heard him let out a quiet moan as his hands slid under the back of my shirt. "At least a prince would be worthy... but a waiter? Fuck that," he said, moving his head to meet with mine.

"I see," I said, lightly biting his bottom lip.

And then there was no more talking. I moved my mouth so that we were now kissing; not a bullshit peck or a light nibble, but a full on, hold your breath, oh dear Jesus kiss. It was passionate. It was hot. This had all the potential of being everything I wanted in that alley earlier tonight, aside from being in public. His hands slid further up my shirt until they were finally at the clasp of my bra, which he unhooked in no time.

We adjusted, both sitting up a little bit so that I could slide out of the bra without breaking the kiss. I needed to breathe but I didn't want to. I realized that he was still wearing the sweatshirt and I reached down to yank the stupid thing off of him; there were too many layers that were between the two of us, and the layers needed to go. I took a deep breath while I could, but as soon as that sweatshirt was cleared our lips collided back together. I felt his hands weave into my hair, gently tugging me closer to him. He started at my lips, kissing them softly and then moving down to my neck: which felt amazing, a moan escaped my throat. As he kissed my neck, we somehow moved so that he was now on top of me. I ran a hand through his hair as the other clutched onto the back of his shirt.

Again, there were too many layers and I reached down to take his shirt off. I threw that to the floor and went back to kissing him. I just could not get enough of his lips. We shifted again, and this time I slinked down his body and somehow pinned him to the bed. I heard another moan come from him as I slowly moved up his body, similar to how I had slid down him earlier tonight. When I finally made my way to his mouth, he made the first move, kissing my neck, then biting my lip and finally kissing me. The slow and steady kiss, intensified and quickened as our hands moved over each other's bodies: I was completely lost in it. The deeper the kiss the more I wanted him. My hands latched around his neck as he scooted he up. As we sat up, I wrapped my legs around his waist, pressing our bodies even closer together. There was another layer that needed to come off, and this time it was my own. He reached for the bottom of my tank top and lifted up.

As the shirt was just about to come off the lights in the room flickered on. "Oh crap! Shit! Sorry," Alice exclaimed as she shut the door.

I could throttle her right now.

**do you all hate me for ending this way?? sorry, it just felt right and i didn't want to force anything. this was my first attempt to writing anything semi-lemony, so i hope it was ok and you guys liked it :/ what did you think of it?**

**any other thoughts or concerns about this chapter? you know how i loooove the feedback :) **

**the next chapter is going to be edward's date with victoria, though i'm not sure who's perspective it's going to be just yet.**


	28. Charity Case

**first off, happy valentines/presidents day, hope everyone's having a good day. thought i'd give you guys a little present :)**

**second, i want to say again a huge thank you to everyone who's commented, pmed, added me as a favorite and so on. thank you you guys, it really means a lot to me! you guys are awesome. **

**also a sepcial shout out and thank you to flyrbrd, darcy13, and LittleLea05. all i can say is wow and thanks for being with me and the story for a while. you're guys' comments... don't even have words.**

**thanks again to amandacullen84 and silverstaged - phenomenal.**

**here goes...**

EPOV

"So what are you doing now, seeing as you've had such a _difficult_ day already? I know how getting pampered all day can really wear you out" Bella commented, as I heard munching over the phone.

"I know, I'm utterly _exhausted_," I joked. "All the treatments are done and the masseuse left a couple of minutes ago, so I'm contemplating if I should take a shower now or later as I watch The Daily Show," I told her, sprawling out on top of the hotel bed. "What have you been doing today, aside from eating chips?"

She stopped her snacking. "I'm not eating chips," she replied. somewhat defensively.

"Sure, cause I can't hear the crunching through the phone or anything," I explained.

She resumed her eating. "Well, I had Pilates in the morning and then came back home and have been sitting on my ass since then watching TV and eating chips, as you so astutely stated. The mental picture I'm painting right now, hot right: me on my ass in sweats, un-showered, with chip crumbies everywhere?" she laughed.

Actually, aside from the crumbs everywhere, she was right –it was a very appealing mental picture.

"You know crumbies isn't an actual word," I teased.

"Well, to me it is, so shut up," she told me, with a laugh.

I laughed with her. "Alright, fine. The whole thing, a little counter intuitive, but the picture you paint: _extremely_ hot," I teased.

"I try,' she munched loudly into the phone.

I clicked off the TV and headed into the bathroom to turn on the shower. "You're still planning on coming over later? Nine, right?" I confirmed.

Everyone had planned to come to my room after their dates tonight. Bella had agreed to come, as well, but I knew she was still upset with the way things had worked out. So I just wanted to check and make sure that everything was still going as planned.

"After your _date_?" she said, annoyed. She sighed quietly, "Yes, I still plan on coming. In fact, I've got a surprise for you."

I scrunched my face, absentmindedly. "A good surprise or a bad one?" I asked a little concerned.

"When is a surprise ever bad?" she replied, answering my question with another question – her way of, yet again, deflecting.

"Both of us know not all surprises are good," I answered her, disrobing.

"Well, my lips are sealed. Can't tell you anything bub; you'll just have to find out for yourself tonight," she told me, spurring my curiosity.

"Fine," I pouted slightly. "Anyway, I have to shower and get ready…" I trailed off.

"Gotta get ready for your... _date_?" she said, irritated.

Not this again; we had been over this a hundred times already. I had told her, if it was really that big of a deal, I'd cancel and say there was some sort of pregnancy emergency with Esme. Every time I had suggested it, though, she always considered the option but then went on about obligation and how she trusts me… Blah, blah, blah. So we always ended up back at this option, and I was kind of over having to hear about my "date" and her getting upset, when it was basically forbidden to talk about her and Jake's and I could _never_ get upset over that. Not that I was bitter or anything.

"Shut up," I teased. "I'll see you later," I said, pausing afterwards.

I could have said it afterwards, and I wanted to – hence the pause. It just didn't seem right to say 'I love you' for the first time to her over the phone and right before I was about to go on a so-called date with someone else; that might ruin the effect just a little bit.

"Yup, see you later. Remember, no drinking tonight," she reminded me.

"Of course, I promise," I told her.

"And try not to have _too_ much fun," she semi teased, though there was definitely a hint of truth in that statement.

"I'll try," I quipped, "Bye."

"Bye," she said, hanging up the phone.

I tossed my phone onto the counter, where all my clothes were and got into the shower. I wasn't looking forward to tonight. I didn't want to be going on a date, even a fake date, with anyone other than Bella; I especially didn't want to with someone I didn't already know and had no intention of getting to know. Victoria was this annoying little freshman who just seemed to hang on every word that Bella uttered, which was simply embarrassing. I hated being around people like that. So being with her, alone, for two solid hours was going to be torture. Even Stanley, would have been better: she's at least fairly good to look at, a fucking _idiot_, but she's attractive as long as she doesn't talk too much.

There was no point of dwelling on the fact that I had to go on this date. I was being charitable and "fulfilling my obligation", as Bell put it, so I really shouldn't be giving any of this a second thought; what's done is done. The date, Victoria, all of this crap that went along with the gala, meant absolutely nothing to me and it'd be over before I knew it. What I needed to think about were important matters: like how, exactly, I was going to tell Bella my feelings for her and what this damn surprise was.

When I had tried to elaborately plan a way to tell her, I got flustered and fucked it up. Then, when I wanted to tell her later, that douchebag got in the way and fucked it up. So maybe planning wasn't the way to do it; maybe I just needed to wait until I felt ready or when I wanted to tell her. I was way over thinking all of this, which, clearly, hadn't been working in my favor. Maybe you couldn't plan something like this out, it just needed to be spontaneous and heartfelt. And maybe _that's_ why I hadn't been able to spit it out and tell her how I really felt: all of this has just been too contrived and planned out. I pondered that as the water hit my face, hoping that it would wash away any uncertainty on the topic and just leave me with the correct answer approach on how to tell Bella.

I let myself have a couple minutes of just sitting there in the water, hoping something would come to me, but nothing really did. So I took that as a sign and decided that I wouldn't plan anything, but at the same time, I didn't want it to just come out in some trivial manner. Maybe I should ask Emmett how… Wait, what am I saying, ask Em – he _definitely_ shouldn't know before Bella. He had done this before, though, telling Rose and everything. Then again, Bella would probably get really upset when she found out he knew before her– and she _would_ find out. Maybe she already knows and I don't have to say anything, she can just tell me first. Yea, and then I would grow a vagina and we would then be in a lesbian relationship; can't do that.

I had enough thinking about this; if I thought about it anymore I was going to really stress myself out. I needed to move on to issue number two, her surprise, and getting out of the shower – I had been in there for a while now. I stepped out and grabbed the towel, drying myself off before I wrapped myself in the hotel's robe. I went back to the other room, turning down the comforter and getting into bed. What could her surprise be? She wasn't super cheery or enthusiastic when she mentioned the surprised, so that didn't give me any clue if it was a good thing or not. All I knew was that it was a surprise.

Maybe it's about Jake and the date: that her dad finally got her a way out of it. If that were it, though, I would think she would have been a little more excited, but maybe she's trying to keep her cool so that she can just tell me in person. I considered that for a moment, closing my eyes and just taking it in. That would be perfect and would really be a godsend; no more interference from that asshole. As much as I wanted it to be that, there was no way that I'm _that_ lucky.

Think simpler; maybe it's something for tonight that she planned. That _could_ be it and that would make sense. Or it could possibly be something for everyone – she didn't say the surprise was exclusively for me. This option made more sense, because I knew she was still not too pleased with me for some reason, so I doubt I would be getting something good all to myself. I still had yet to figure out what _really_ set her off that day last week when she high-tailed it out of the lunch room and then got all weird. She claimed it was because all the Jake stuff was just getting to her and that last present set her off, but that didn't seem likely; there seemed to be more to the story that she wasn't telling me. Again, she was avoiding. I swear that's her favorite pastime, aside from shopping.

The hotel phone rang just then. I looked down to the clock, it was 7:30 already…shit, I wasn't even dressed.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Hey, it's Victoria. I just wanted to let you know that I was here and I'm actually on your floor, so I'll just come to your room so we can meet up," she said, cheerier than I think I'd ever heard her before.

"My room?" I asked, curious as to why she was on my floor and not going with what we had planned and meeting up at the bar.

"Well I was going to the bar, and I did; but after waiting a while I thought I'd check on what was going on. I tried your cell a bunch of times to let you know, but it just kept ringing. So I asked the front desk to connect me to your room, which they did and you still didn't answer. So I got a little worried that something might have happened. I asked for your room number, but they wouldn't give it to me – something about stupid privacy. But they did give me your floor, so I figured I'd take my chances and have them call you again when I got up here. Besides, while I was sitting at the bar, a bunch of creepers came up to me, so I kinda wanted to leave" she explained.

It sounded logical and I could have missed hearing the phone altogether. I quickly checked my cell to corroborate her story, and like she said, I had three missed calls from an unknown number.

"Sorry about that, I was probably in the shower and didn't even hear my phone go off," I explained. "My room's 426. I'll leave it bolted and just come in; I'm running a little late and am still in the process of getting dressed," I told her.

"Ok, see you in a few," she said, again a little too cheery.

She was probably excited by the fact that she might be seeing me get ready or thought that the delay in getting dressed meant that the date meant something more than what it actually was: a charity case. Anticipating her speedy arrival, I quickly grabbed my gray t-shirt and jeans and headed into the bathroom to get ready. Hopefully, with the bathroom door shut, there would be no reason to make expected small talk – I would soon have enough of that on the stupid fucking date.

As soon as I shut the bathroom door, I heard the front door open. Perfect timing.

"Edward?" her voice called out, making sure she had the right room.

She used my first name? What the hell is that? It felt wrong for her to use it; too intimate. Only close friends, family, and Bella called me Edward, everyone else used Cullen. This only furthered my annoyance… Not a good start to the night.

I should have just stayed silent; maybe I could have avoided the date altogether by making her think that she was in the wrong room. But no, being the nice guy that I am, I responded. "Yea, in the bathroom getting ready," I told her.

She shut the door and then there was silence; I wasn't exactly sure what she did next. All I knew was that my plan had worked: by ducking into the bathroom, I had avoided all mindless chit chat she was bound to try to involve me in.

"So I ran into Alice and Jasper in the lobby, they were on their way to dinner," Victoria told me, trying to bait me into a conversation.

I continued to get ready and dismissed what she said.

"Alice looked nice; her dress was really pretty," she continued, trying again.

I was basically done; all I needed was to put on my leather jacket, which was in the closet outside. That meant there was no more hiding, damnit. Well, the sooner I get out there and face her, the faster this thing will be over with. I took a deep breath, played with my hair a little more, and exited the bathroom.

She looked like she was waiting for a response from me as I walked out. "Were you talking? Sorry, the fan in the bathroom is _really_ loud; you can't hear anything when the door is shut," I lied, as I walked to the closet and got my jacket out.

She smiled slightly, trying to conceal to disappointment. "Oh, it wasn't anything major: just small talk," she stated.

I looked down at the clock, 7:45 now, we really had to go. Bella, and everyone else, would be coming around nine, and I didn't want to risk Victoria seeing everyone here and expect an invitation simply because she was already here. Then again, I didn't want to, outright, snub her, that would just be rude. So that meant I just had to make sure the date was over and get her out of the hotel by 8:50, giving me a ten minute grace period.

"Well, we better head down before they give away our reservations," I told her, holding the door to the room open so that she could exit.

She followed my lead and made her way out the room and to the elevator. "I like your jacket," she stated, as we waited for the elevator to come.

"Uh thanks," I said, running a hand nervously through my hair.

I knew she was searching for a compliment, but I really didn't want to give her one. I looked down, trying to think of an appropriate response. If Bella were here, she would know how to deflect and avoid the situation altogether. Then again, if Bella were here I would have had no problem complimenting _her_. Actually, I didn't have a problem complimenting Victoria or being nice to her. It was just, that this all seemed too contrived; it seemed as if this was expected, and I didn't want to be expected to do anything.

"Your shoes are nice," I told her, caving in with my own lame response.

She beamed at this; pleased I had given her the response she was looking for. The elevator opened: this was going to be a longer night than anticipated. There were a fair amount of people in there, so the two of us had to smush into the corner. I was sure I heard a delighted sigh escape her throat – God, there _was_more to this date than simply an obligation for her. Fuck, Bella was right, proving I was oblivious and a dumbass, yet again. I really hated it when she was right about these things...

I felt even more uncomfortable in this situation now. Before, I thought she might have had a little crush, but now this confirmed it. I had rationalized this in my head that she was just glad that she had won the date, because well, it's me, and I was the hottest male ticket of the night, but now, I knew there was more to it. I knew a lot of people supposedly had crushes, or whatever, on me in this town, but I never had solid proof and _always_kept my distance which allowed me to stay in denial. But now, being on a fucking date with one of them was unchartered territory; I had never been on a date with someone who i didn't like. At least since the elevator was full, we didn't have to talk to each other; which was a relief.

We finally arrived on the bottom floor and exited towards the restaurant. As soon as we got in, I spotted Alice and Rose on their dates. And it just so happened, that our table happened to, conveniently, be smack in the middle of theirs. Bella must have arranged this so her spies could inform her of every little move that was made, because as soon as we came in both Rose and Alice picked up their phones and began texting. I chuckled to myself over Bella's set up and trust in the lack of innocence of this date, which turned out to be right. Though, I would _never_ admit that she was. Playing dumb about this whole situation could get me very far.

"This way," the maître d directed us.

"Where are the menus?" Victoria asked.

This comment caused Rosalie to scoff. She overheard Victoria's comment because she was sitting directly behind her. "Idiot," she mumbled, rather loudly.

She overheard Rosalie's remark, causing her to furrow her brow and blush slightly.

The maitre d frowned; probably upset he had to deal with an influx of over privileged, over entitled, spoiled, teenagers for the duration of the night. "It's a set tasting menu, which was incorporated with the package," he explained, rudely, before walking away.

Now Alice snorted at this. I didn't need to see either of them pick up their phones to know both girls were texting Bella of Victoria's ignorance and slight humiliation.

Then her demeanor shifted slightly, and Victoria sat upright. "Excuse me," she called out to our waiter, who was on his way over to introduce himself. "Would it be possible to move to that table over there? It's a little noisy over here: there are a couple of flies that keep buzzing around, which are quite bothersome," she explained, loudly.

I was stunned that she just said that about Rose and Alice, who were both within ear shot; clearly, she didn't value her social standing at school. That was ballsy, but pretty stupid: they would destroy her. Before Victoria wasn't even a blip on the radar, now, she'd have a gigantic target on her back.

I saw Rosalie start to turn around to make a comment back to her, but Em grabbed onto her hand and turned her back towards him – probably trying to avoid a scene. And it would have been a scene, due to Rose's temper.

"Of course; I'm so sorry about that. We'll take care of this immediately," he stated, guiding us to the other table.

The table Victoria had pointed to was clear on the other side of the restaurant, which was surrounded by other parties, so there was no chance for Rose and Alice to move. We were now on an island and she could say and do whatever she wanted without being spied on - which I'm sure was the purpose of the move. Victoria smiled triumphantly; pleased that she seemed to have outsmart Rosalie and Alice.

"Thank you so much for that; I really appreciate it," she told the waiter.

Alright, so now my buffers were gone… fantastic. Now, it was really only Victoria and I.

The waiter went over and asked Rosalie and Alice's tables if they had a problem, which they, obviously, did not.

"No problem. Is this table alright?" he looked at Victoria.

She nodded in approval.

"Okay then. I'll bring out the first course. Would you like anything to drink?" he asked.

I opened my mouth to say no thank you, keeping the promise I had made Bella, when Victoria started answering for me. This took me aback slightly; it was a little bold of her. "A a Seven and Seven, whatever top shelf you have for him and a Grey Goose Cosmo for me," she told him.

I opened my mouth, again, to cancel what she just ordered but he was already gone.

"You _do_ drink Seven and Seven, right?" she asked, concerned she had messed up my drink.

"Yes I do, I just wasn't planning on…" I began answering her.

"Oh good," she beamed, "I was concerned I had ordered the wrong thing."

Well, I guess there was nothing I could do now. I hadn't ordered the drink, and when it came I would just leave it there. Though, that did seem to be a waste of a perfectly good drink.

"So how was your day?" Victoria asked brightly, avoiding the subject of why we moved.

I took a sip of my water before I answered, delaying talking time. "It was pretty good, relaxing," I told her. I paused, not really wanting to continue this, but thought that talking might make this whole thing go faster, instead of dead silence which could drag on and on. "What about your day?" I asked, not really interested.

"It was alright. Just hung out with some friends before getting ready," she replied.

And then there was silence. She didn't seem to want to press the issue of making small talk, which I greatly took advantage of.

The waiter was back with our drinks and the first course, a polenta, mushroom and truffle dish. I pushed my drink to the side, trying to get it out of my way. Victoria took a sip of her drink, but did not seem happy.

"I think there has been a mistake. _This_ isn't want I ordered," she explained.

The waiter looked down, a little unsure of what to say exactly. He finally took a deep breath. "I know it's not, but your friends over there told me about your _problem_ and they want to make sure you stay strong_._ They instructed me that you were not, under any circumstances, allowed to have anything to drink. I completely understand. I'm two years strong, so I know it's a struggle, _especially_ when you first get out. They suggested bringing you Shirley Temples and I put it in a martini glass, because it helps: giving the feeling that you are actually having a drink. I used to do that and it helped a lot. So enjoy, and I'll be back soon with your second course," he whispered, giving Victoria a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

I had to bite my lip so I wouldn't start laughing because Victoria, definitely, didn't think that this was funny. I automatically picked up my drink and took a sip, something I did to ease the tension and distract myself from situations. Damn it, I did not want to do that, but I couldn't help it; it was an automatic reflex, like closing your eyes when you sneeze, but it was helping to contain my laughter, which I drastically needed because Victoria did not seem happy.

In fact, she looked livid. This, of course, was the intention. Rose and Alice looked over and toasted her from across the room with wide grins across their faces. This time I punched myself in the leg to keep myself from laughing. Oh, if Bella could only see this… Maybe she was, though, I thought I saw Jazz holding a phone towards us. That would make this moment even better, really. Maybe she was the one who came up with this little idea.

"Payback, of course," she said to herself, taking a small sip from her glass, but almost immediately put it down.

See, it _was_ a reflex to drink when you had something in front of you. I was totally justified in taking a sip, even though I had promised that I wouldn't…

I couldn't help myself; I laughed at this one, but quickly covered my mouth. "Come on, you had to expect this," I stated, bluntly.

I could tell she was thinking about how to respond. It seemed like her first instinct would have been to just flat out be bitchy, but she refrained because she liked me and wanted to make a good impression - getting me on her side: so she had to play nice. These were my best friends and family, it wouldn't even be a choice of who I would side with and she knew that, so she calmed her ass down.

"Yea, I guess I should have," she said, taking a bite of her dish.

She looked a little embarrassed. The whole Shirley Temple thing _was_ hilarious, but I'm sure embarrassing for her. The point was driven home: she was the baby in this situation messing with the big kids, in a league she had no part in. I felt a _little_ bad for her. "Just suck it up for the night and, hopefully, on Monday they'll have dropped this whole thing," I told her.

She rolled her eyes at this. "Yeah right," she said to herself. "I think that is probably _very_ unlikely," she told me.

Unconsciously, I took another sip of my drink and nodded in agreement. "You're probably right," I agreed.

I silently berated myself for taking yet another sip from the glass. I wanted to give it to the waiter to take away, but I had a feeling if I did that she would just order another one.

As we quietly sat there, finishing up the first course, the second arrived. The second course looked better than the first: scallops with some sort of puree underneath.

"So, what kind of things are you into, aside from the whole charity thing?" I asked her, trying to keep up the small talk while trying to actually say as little as possible. And this was perfect, because she would just be talking about herself the whole time; all I would need to do is bob my head along so that it would look like I was paying attention.

"Well, I do track and cross country; I'm _really_ fast," she said, haughtily. "I'm also on the freshman student board. So between all of that, doing the charity committee, and actual school work, I'm pretty busy," she concluded.

I nodded my head as I ate, trying to signal her to continue. But she wasn't having that and started asking me the questions. "So what else does the famed Edward Cullen do, besides hang out with the Forks Mafia?" she now asked me.

I raised my eyebrows. "I've heard us be called a lot of things, but the Forks Mafia. I don't think I've ever heard that before," I said.

"Well yea, people aren't stupid enough to say that to your face," she retorted.

I thought about it while taking yet, another, sip from my glass which I had now emptied – that wasn't good. I must have some sort of compulsory reflex to drink whenever I have a drink in front of me, that is the only explanation, because I _really_ didn't want to drink tonight. I could explain a sip or two, but a whole drink? When did I even drink the whole thing? Maybe there just hadn't been that much in there, just a lot of ice. I had broken the one promise I had made to Bella tonight… Shit.

I needed to respond to her, though, because she was looking at me for an answer. "I suppose that's true. So who's Vito Corleone in this alleged 'family'," I asked.

She stared at me blankly.

"You know, Marlon Brando in the Godfather? He _played_ the Godfather," I explained.

She was kind of an idiot, not gonna lie.

"Oh," she said, giggling a little and trying to play off her ignorance. "Well, it's really a tossup between you and Bella. Most people think that it's you," she explained.

Me and Bella? They thought that I was running the show… ha!

"And what do you think?" I asked, intrigued by this topic of conversation, as the waiter came with the third course.

She studied my expression for a moment, trying to figure something out. "Actually, I don't think that it's either of you; I would say that Alice runs the show," she told me, taking a bite from the filet in front of her.

Well, maybe she wasn't as stupid as she looked or pretended to be. Each of us did play our parts, and publicly, it probably looked like I was more involved and had more authority over the others than I actually did, but it was Alice who dictated major moves. She and Bella traded off, but when something big was coming down the pike, it was Alice who all of us went to.

"Interesting theory," I stated.

"What you disagree?" she said with a laugh.

I chuckled slightly at this, causing Alice to turn towards me to see why; she _did not_ look happy that I had just laughed. I stifled my laugh at her glare, further reinforcing the theory that Alice was the one in charge, again, causing me another stifled laugh. "I don't know; I've never actually thought of our group of friends as the mob or anything," I explained.

"Well it makes sense. See, Emmett's the muscle. Rosalie's... well, she's just beautiful. She might not be in charge, but you also don't want to fuck with her. You never want to mess with people that gorgeous. Jasper and you are the brains, though I think he may be a little smarter than you… no offense," she said bluntly.

"None taken, I would agree with you. He's ridiculously smart for someone who never does much of anything academic," I concurred.

"Bella is the second in command and, in some cases, the leader. And Alice, well, we've already established that Alice is the godfather," she concluded with a smile.

Actually, she was smarter than I initially gave her credit for. She might be playing dumb in certain situations, but she was perceptive. "Again, interesting theory," I told her.

Victoria looked down at my drink. "Do you want another one?" she asked, as she signaled the waiter for another.

"No thanks, I'm good," I told her, trying to get the waiter's attention, but he had already headed off towards the bar.

Then Victoria's expression changed – one moment she was all smiles and then she looked as if she was in pain or something. "Are you alright? You don't look too good," I asked her.

She winced slightly. "I don't know, my stomach has this sharp pain all of a sudden," she explained.

"Do you need some water? Do you have a food allergy or anything? Maybe you ate something that just didn't agree with you," I told her, the inner doctor in me coming out.

Dad would be proud.

She took a sip from her water and tore off a small piece of bread, but it looked like it was painful for her to swallow. "Nope, definitely shouldn't swallow or anything," she told me. "Sorry to cut this short, but I think it's probably a wise idea to just go home and lay down before this gets worse. This has never happened before," she stated.

For a moment I felt relieved that I didn't have to deal with this stupid fake date shit anymore, but then I felt bad because I felt a little responsible for making her sick. "Don't even worry about it, you're not feeling well, I totally understand," I told her, getting up from the table to help her up.

The waiter came back holding the next course and my drink. "Actually, we're not going to need those," I told him, "we're leaving early."

"Actually, could you deliver the drink and dessert for one up to room 426," she told the waiter, who nodded his head. "There's no reason for you not to enjoy dessert; that's the best part," she said to me with a smile.

I half-heartedly smiled back to her; that was kind of nice of her. "Do you need help or anything? Can you walk on your own?" I asked.

She stood up from table and tried to walk, but that looked a little painful. I offered my arm so she could at least lean against me, hopefully alleviating some of the pain. As we walked out of the restaurant I saw Alice and Rosalie's tables, guys and girls included, stare at what was going on. I shook my head towards them, trying to tell them that it wasn't what they thought, but I think that might have been misconstrued.

"Crap," Victoria said, as we were in the lobby.

"What?" I asked.

"I don't have my purse. I have no idea where it is," she replied.

"Well do you think that it's in the restaurant, that you left it at the table?" I asked.

She sighed. "No, I don't remember having it at the table or anything. It's probably left i somewhere upstairs, when I was in or going to your room," she stated.

"Well, why don't you sit here and I can go check the room, so you don't have to keep walking," I suggested.

She smiled at me. "That's really nice, but I don't even know if it's in your room. It could be anywhere upstairs because I was wandering around for a while, so I think I have to go as well. Damn it, I just want to go home," she said.

I nodded my head and started making our way to the elevator. It was here in no time and then we were going up.

"Thanks for helping me out. Sorry about this," she apologized.

"It's not like you got sick deliberately. It's really no big deal, just glad I can help," I told her.

"And thanks for tonight. This was a lot of fun," she told me, trying to move closer.

There was moving closer to someone who was helping you because you needed assistance since they were sick and then there was just trying to move closer so that you could flirt - and she was doing the later. I was only holding on to her because she was having difficulty walking. Wasn't that clear? I thought it was.

"Careful, I don't want you to infect me too," I laughed, teasing her as I held my arm closer to her as I moved my body as far away as I could. The joke and movement away from her will hopefully get her to understand the reason why we were so close to each other and draw some boundary lines. "Yea, tonight was cool," I replied back, trying to keep it as neutral as I could.

The elevator opened and we walked to my room. "Okay, so where exactly did you go before you came here?" I asked her.

"I was near the 460 rooms," she told me.

Great, that was clear on the other side of the floor and it was going to take a while to get over there.

There was a knock on the door. "Room service," the bellhop announced.

I opened the door and let him in. He was carrying the dessert from the restaurant, as well as my drink.

"Just put them on the table over there," I instructed.

I glanced at the clock, 8:35, there should be plenty of time to check and get Victoria out of here before Bella comes... as long as I left now. "Okay, you check the room and I'll go check the rest of the floor. You just look over the room and maybe have some Ginger Ale or something, to try and calm your stomach down. I'll be back in a little bit," I told her.

She nodded her head in agreement. "And can you bring some ice too? My head is starting to get really warm, so maybe that would cool it down until I can get an aspirin or something," she asked.

I frowned slightly, knowing that this was going to delay my search for her purse.

"Nevermind... it's really not that big of a deal," she said, reading the look on my face.

I shook my head. "Don't worry, I'll get some ice too. It'll only take like 30 seconds more," I said as I grabbed the bucket and headed out the door.

Though I might actually need those 30 seconds...

Okay, so now off to look for this damn purse. Not only am I at Bella's beck and call, but now I'm at Victoria's as well. I didn't even know what this damn thing looked like, but I suppose there probably won't be a lot of purses just lying around, girls tend to be pretty protective of those things.

I quickly walked down the hall and glanced down at my phone. There were two texts: one from Alice and the other from Rosalie. No need to guess what they are about. I looked at Alice's first.

_**WHY**__ are you leaving with her, now?_

Rose's was a little more colorful...

_What the fuck are you doing, dumbass? Are you the most fucking retarded person on the planet - Em's gonna cut you!_

I chose to ignore both of them. Replying to what happened over text would: a, take too long and b, be misconstrued. I would just deal with telling them later, in person, when we were all together. Besides, it'd probably be best if I told Bella before the other two, because then they would calm down seeing that it wasn't a big deal to Bella. Well, _hopefully_ they would calm down if they knew that - that wasn't a guarantee.

I was nearing the end of the hallway and I still hadn't found her purse, maybe she had left it in the room? I checked my phone again, and it was 8:50 – I needed to get back to my room and get Victoria out of there. After all of the drama and arguments that had taken place about tonight, I wanted the rest of the evening to go as smoothly as possible when Bella actually got here. Hopefully, I would be able to salvage the rest of the night, and when the time was right, tell her how I felt, in a natural and _unplanned_ manner. In order to do that, though, I needed to get back and make sure Victoria was gone and there was no trace of her in the room.

I high tailed it back to my room and I was almost there when I remembered that she wanted ice. That God damn ice, which was probably going to make me late. I turned around and briskly walked back to the ice machine that was down the hall. It was near the area that I was looking for her purse, so it was slightly out of the way… well, it wouldn't have been if I had actually remembered to get ice when I was over there before.

I glanced at my phone again, 8:55 now; I really needed to be in my room and tidying up. So, now, I hauled ass back to the room. Sick or not, Victoria needed to get her ass out of my room. She could take her damn ice and leave.

I was rounding the corner when I saw Bella rushing down the hallway towards the elevator.

"Bella," I called out.

She just kept going; maybe she didn't hear me.

"Bella," I yelled, a little bit louder.

This time she stopped briefly, before she kept going down the hall. I knew she heard me, but she was ignoring me for some reason. She made it to the elevator and started pushing the down button rapidly. When it didn't come fast enough to her liking, she kept making her way down the hallway and towards the stairwell.

"Bella, where are you going?" I asked, dropping the ice bucket and quickening my pace to catch up with her before she bolted down the stairs.

Again, there was no response – she was definitely ignoring me. My strides became a little longer, and since my legs were longer than hers, I caught up with her in no time.

"Bella, seriously, hold on. What's going on?" I asked concerned, as I reached out for her arm.

She, immediately, pulled away from me. "Just go away," she demanded.

Something was wrong. Her voice sounded off, like she was upset, which I guess it wouldn't take a genius to figure out. I reached out for her again, this time grabbing her hand, spinning her around, and bringing her closer to me.

What I saw in Bella was something that I had only see in her once, when she found out that Jake had won her date: she looked defeated. I was used to anger, misunderstanding, and the whole other slew of emotions that she's gone through, but there was _never_ defeat and giving up. Her eyes were red; she was holding back tears. She was clenching her jaw and her mouth was trembling slightly, but she was keeping that together a lot better than the tears. It was really her eyes that gave her away.

I was really worried. Had she seen Victoria and overreacted? At the moment, I didn't really care how she had gotten to this point; I just wanted to fix it. I needed to fix this and make everything better.

I held the bottom of her chin and tilted her face up so that we were looking at each other. I ran my hand through her hair, stopping at the back of her neck and rubbed it a little; that usually calms her down. "What's wrong?" I asked.

She closed her eyes for a brief second, a rogue tear escaped from her eye. When she opened her eyes, they were even redder than before. She pulled away. "Don't touch me," she commanded. "Don't touch me _ever_ again!" she said, beginning to turn the door knob to go down the stairwell.

Now I was seriously confused. I had _no_ idea what was going on and I was starting to worry. "Bella, what's wrong? Talk to me, I don't know what's going on," I insisted, trying to get her to tell me anything.

She scoffed, turning back towards me. "You don't know what's going on? What's with the ice? Did you drink tonight? " she inquired.

A little voice inside my head told me to just tell the truth about the drink and Victoria being sick, but for some reason it really didn't come out that way. "The ice is for Victoria, she wasn't feeling good. And, no, I didn't drink," I told her.

"Don't lie to me!" she yelled at me.

"I'm not. I'm not lying," I said, trying to calm her down and cover my ass about the alcohol.

She loudly exhaled. "Just stop; stop it. I know you were drinking, I can smell it on your breath!" she exclaimed, exacerbated.

I didn't know what to do. With every passing moment she was getting more upset and I could tell she was losing the battle in keeping her emotions in control. As she started breaking down, I could feel myself breaking down right along with her. "Bella, I'm not lying to you. Okay, I did have a drink, but I didn't order it and didn't mean to drink it - it just kind of happened. And she really is sick, we had to leave dinner early. Ask Rose and Alice, " I tried to explain, moving closer to her. "Please, just talk to me. Tell me what's going on," I begged her, cupping her face in my hands.

She didn't move away at first. I didn't know if it was because she didn't want to move away or if it was because she couldn't: that she had reached her emotional brink and was about to really break down. I moved my hands from her face and wrapped my arms around her waist, making sure she could stand and that she was alright.

"Please Edward, just let me go. Let me go!" she pleaded softly, pushing me away and tears now streaming down her face.

My heart was breaking, watching her stand there, crying. _I_ had done this and I didn't even know what I had done. I didn't know if there was anything I could do to fix it, but I was sure as hell going to try. If we just talked this out, like we'd talked about things before, things could go back to normal.

"Bella," I called out to her softly, "I…"

This was the time to tell her I loved her. It felt right and this was my moment – hopefully, that would help repair a little of whatever had happened and get her to stay and talk about what happened.

"Bella!" Alice yelled, running down the hallway.

And then she was off. As soon as Alice called her name, it had distracted me enough to let her slip away and she had bolted.

As Alice passed me in the hall, running after Bella, she glared at me. This wasn't an inquisitive stare of what happened, but a spiteful glare of 'I'm going to kill you'.

Rosalie came down the hall next, but stopped briefly in front of me. "_What_ did _you_ do?" she demanded, before she ran off after the other two.

**what did you guys think? (hope everyone isn't hating it :/) i know kinda upsetting, but thought it kinda fit in with valentine's day, cause not everyone gets a happy ending **

**sorry to end it like this, next chapter's going to be a little bit of a downer too... be prepared for some rocky times ahead. it's gonna be from bella's POV, so you'll get to see what happened. shouldn't be too long, i've already been working on it.**

**reviews are better than chocolates and flowers ;) **


	29. Fake It Till You Make It

**well... happy friday everyone! hope you all had a good week and have a great weekend ahead. :)**

**another big thank you to everyone who's been reading and taking the time to comment/review/pm - you guys are freakin awesome. and thanks for sticking with the story**

**amandacullen84 and silverstaged = awesome. tcg thanks for being there with all you fantastic advice and assistance.**

**without further a due, here's the chapter - sorry it took so long to get out. i had it done earlier, but was acting up and i had a _crazy_ week!**

BPOV

"Slow down Bella, it's just us," Alice yelled at me as I continued running down the stairs.

There was no time to stop and no time to explain, I just wanted to leave. There were too many tears, which I wouldn't be able to stop for long. I needed to be as far away from that stupid hotel and _everyone_ in it, as quickly as possible. I wanted to get home before I _really_ broke down.

"Bella, don't make me kick your ass! You know I'm stronger than you," Rosalie called out, from close behind.

Damn, she was fast. I had at least a five minute head start on her and she had almost caught up to me.

But I just kept running down those stairs. _This_ was the reason I worked out with my trainer… not to stay in shape, but to make a speedy get away from my friends, lovely.

"Hold it right there," Rose said, placing a hand on my shoulder and trying to get me to hold on.

But I was going too fast and my momentum not stopping. Her abrupt stop caused both of us to fly into the wall but, luckily, not down a flight of stairs – that would have just been the topper to a fantastic night. Though, I think the crash did mess up my wrist and twisted my ankle, because I immediately felt a dull throbbing pain coming from both areas. I allowed myself to rest for a minute to see how badly I was injured.

Alice had finally caught up, a little winded, but she was now standing with us too. "So," she said, taking a big breath, "wa-what happened? Are you okay?"

"Does it look like I'm fucking okay?" I asked them, trying to hold back the tears as much as I could and thrusting my aching wrist at them.

They both moved to give me a hug and try to comfort me, but I just moved away. I didn't want their sympathy and I didn't want to rehash what just happened. I really just didn't want to talk. More so, I _couldn't_ talk about what happened – it was too soon and I was completely crushed and broken. I had been totally blindsided by this. The one person I had trusted enough to let in, the one person who I loved – or thought I loved – was a disappointment. But really, what else should I have expected?

"Why don't you let us just drive you home; you're not really in a state to drive anywhere, hun," Rose suggested, calmly.

I knew they were trying to just be nice and be there for me, but I couldn't take it. I was just _too_ close to my breaking point and I didn't want them to see me like this – that _he_ had affected me this much. I just needed to have distance and maybe figure out what happened… or just cry myself to sleep, which seemed a little more likely - there was nothing _to_ figure out. This was the same, just like any other relationship I've been in or heard about: guys just couldn't be trusted – end of story.

I put a little pressure on the ankle to make sure that I could actually walk on it, which I could; it seemed okay, though the pain was still there. Funny, that's probably what people will think about me: she looks alright, but the pain would still be there – it would always be there.

"I just need some time alone. I'll be fine. You guys go up and enjoy the rest of your night," I told them, continuing down the stair well, while trying not to hobble, and leaving them behind.

Neither made a move to follow me and gave me the space that I requested. They knew that I needed time and knew I'd, eventually, tell them what had happened when I felt ready. Who knew when that would be, though. This was excruciating; it literally felt like my heart had fractured into a million little pieces and there was nothing that I could do to mend it back together.

I finally reached the bottom floor. I searched for a mirror to check how badly I looked – I didn't want to look like a train wreck and make a scene in the middle of the hotel. That's all I needed: to look like a mess and let some damn photographer catch me that way. Yes, this would be much more manageable if this stayed a private matter and out of the public eye. Aside from some streaking of my mascara and some slightly puffy eyes, I didn't look _all_ that bad. Funny how you can look totally composed on the outside and be a complete mess on the inside – I had never really understood how people could be that way before now. I took a deep breath and tried to regain any composure that I could. I needed to keep my guard up now, more so than I ever had before.

I looked myself over in the mirror. The person who starred back at me was somebody I had never seen before, someone who was completely a mess over some _guy _of all things. This was worse than either of my grandparents' death, and I had been a wreck over that. I just couldn't stop crying; I physically couldn't, but maybe that's what happens when you have your heart broken?

I called the front desk and asked for my car to be taken to the back entrance; it was way less crowded and far fewer people actually went through the back. They agreed and said it would be there within a couple minutes, so I began to make my way through the hotel taking every deserted corridor and obscure pathway I knew about or could find.

I was halfway to the back when I literally, stumbled upon it because my ankle seemed like it was about to give out: the courtyard from the gala. I didn't want to see it or go closer but for some reason I seemed drawn to it. Before I knew it, I was sitting on the ledge of the fountain watching the water cascade from the top and flow to the bottom where I dragged a finger through the water. The last time I had been here, everything was just so perfect, and now... well now it had all gone to shit. How could this have happened? We were just so happy and everything was going so well - I had even gotten a way to get out of my date with Jacob. I should have known; things just don't work out this neatly.

Now, the tears, which I had done so well in suppressing, came back in full force and were not stopping. I couldn't see anything in front of me because my tears were streaming down my face. I was crying so hard that I started shaking and slipped off the ledge, falling to the floor. The memory of this perfect moment between the two of us combined with the betrayal of tonight was just too much. It was hard to breathe because I was crying so much. I gasped for air, but every inhale I took stung my throat and caused more pain than any relief I could have had from breathing. The emotional breaking point that I was hoping would stay away and avoid, at least until I got home, was rearing its ugly head.

I completely shut down and just let the tears and pain wash over me.

* * *

"Bells? Open the door," a voice called out from the hallway.

I groggily stirred from my bed. I had been sleeping a lot since Saturday night. In fact, I hadn't actually left my room since them.

'"Come on, open up," the voice called out again.

I got up and looked in the mirror. I still looked as dreadful as I felt. I had been avoiding mirrors at all cost since I got home, figuring if I couldn't see what I looked like, I didn't look that bad - clearly I was delusional. My eyes were still bloodshot; they were so puffy that I could barely open them – they were merely slits. And my hair... well there were no words that did it justice. My hair was just gross, due to the lack of showering, hair products, and general oiliness of my hair. I'm pretty sure that I was starting to smell too…lovely. I was a hot mess. No scratch that, I was just a mess. And now I was hearing voices too because Mike wasn't, actually, here… so I was a mess _and_ crazy. What a combination.

"I didn't just fly _1000_ miles and _20_ hours, back to Forks to look at your door. Open up before I get the key from Inga," Mike called out, pounding on the door again.

He actually _had_ flown all the way up to see me? What the hell? Who had even told him about this? Mom and dad were away on business, they left early Sunday morning, so it's not like they could have even told him, because they hadn't even seen me. It must have been Alice, calling in the big guns.

I trudged over to my door, unlocked it, and then went back to bed.

"And hello to you too," Mike said, as he came in.

I got back in bed and pulled the covers over my head. I still wasn't in the mood to deal with any of this or say anything to anyone. I closed my eyes and let the darkness envelop me.

I felt the covers lift a little bit, as he slid into bed with me. "So are we just going to hang out in here all day long, cause that's cool and everything, but your lack of personal hygiene is making it a little ripe in here and I can only hold my breath for so long," he kidded.

I felt the edges of my mouth curl up, slightly. Was I smiling? That was a change.

I didn't respond to his question though. I know he was just trying to lighten the mood and make me feel a little better, but it wasn't going to work. Well, not entirely.

All of a sudden he just attacked me under the covers, engulfing me in a bear hug and rolling around. "Come on, is this how you're going to treat your big brother who just flew out here to see you, Bellsy Poo," he said.

Bellsy Poo? I hadn't heard that in forever; he hardly ever called me that anymore. The rolling motion and the hugging made it a little hard to stay silent and a laugh finally escaped my lips.

"Was that a laugh?" he asked, feigning shock, as he started to tickle me.

Oh god, as much as I really didn't want to laugh or say anything, I couldn't help it. Mike knew all the places I was most ticklish and he was the only person who could actually tickle me.

"I'm not going to stop until you agree to get out of bed," he told me as he continued tickling.

So it was either enduring tickling until I couldn't take it anymore or just go along with what he said.

"Fine," I said laughing, "I'll get up, but just because you use unfair tactics to get your way," I told him.

He stopped immediately and smiled in delight. "Fantastic. But don't pretend that you don't use unfair tactics either," he told me.

I just glared at him as I got out of bed. "Okay, let's go downstairs then," I told him.

He looked at me disgusted. "Are you seriously not showering? I was teasing you before, but there was truth to it, and I really don't want to be spraying you with perfume all day long due to your _pungent_ aroma: you're a little rank, sis. Besides, I don't even know if perfume will cover your new homeless chic smell. Get your ass in that shower and get fresh and clean," he instructed me, pointing at the bathroom.

I made my way back to bed, there was no mention of a shower before – that would take just too much effort right now. "All you said was get up. I got up, but I'm not showering," I told him.

He yanked the covers off of me. "So you enjoy unsavory hygiene then? Either take a shower, or I'll put you in the shower. Don't _think_ that I won't get Alice over here to make you shower - because I love you, but I draw the line at bathing my eighteen year old sister," he said.

I thought about it for a moment. I really didn't want Alice, or anyone else coming over here, so off I trudged to the bathroom. "Again, you play dirty," I told him.

"As long as you no longer smell like something died in here, I'll use whatever means necessary to accomplish that," he said.

As I got in the shower and let the warm water wash over me, I thought about how many days I had stayed in the room. If mom and dad were gone, it had to be after Sunday, but how many days after Sunday was it?

"Mikey, what day is it?" I asked.

"It's Tuesday…afternoon," he replied.

So it had been two days since anyone has heard from me. On day three they send in a search party - that seems about right. Since I had turned off all forms of communication: no phone, email, Facebook… nothing, all there was left to do was call in Mike since the parentals weren't here. That meant that I had, also, missed the last two days of school, so mom and dad had to have been notified, that's no good.

"So what do you want to eat? I was thinking brunch at Maple Grove," he informed me.

"Are you serious? You want to leave the house? It's called baby steps: I'm showering for you - that is the extent of my progress for the day. I don't want to leave. I'm perfectly content here, and I'm not even hungry," I told him.

"Well, since there is no food here because no one's gone grocery shopping that only leaves us going out," he explained. "And Bells, when was the last time you ate?" he asked seriously.

I deflected the last part of that question, because I hadn't eaten anything since Saturday afternoon. "Well, I can order groceries online or we can order in. You know from that place you love with the really good scones," I suggested, as I turned off the water and grabbed a towel.

After my shower, I had felt a little better and I _definitely_ smelled and looked a whole lot better.

"That's more like it," Mike told me, throwing me some clothes. "Thought you could use a pick-me-up," he told me.

I knew what these were, they were bribes to try and butter me up to get me to tell him what had happened. I took the clothes, because even in my condition, I wasn't about to turn down a gift, but this wasn't going to guarantee him any information or anything.

I changed into what he had just given me: some comfy yoga-y type pants, a long sleeved thermal, and this incredibly soft wrap jacket, all by Juicy. Well, at least he was buttering my up with the right type of comfort clothes and not some crazy going out number.

"Here, put this on too," he said handing me a pageboy type hat and my sunglasses, "it'll help keep the sun out of your eyes."

I knew what that meant: it would help cover my eyes which still looked like I had been crying for the past three days, which I had. "Thanks," I told him, putting them on.

He linked my arm around his, heading for the door. "Alright, let's go," he said, escorting me out of the room.

"Come on, let's just order food in. We don't have to go out - everywhere can just deliver to us," I tried again.

"Not everywhere delivers, Bells. Besides, some fresh air will be good for you," he stated.

We walked through the house and down the stairs. The house was bright, almost too bright for me. I had been cooped up in my room for the past three days with the blinds drawn, so I was used to the darkness. Now, any sort of light, even dim lamp light hurt my eyes; I was grateful that I was already wearing my sunglasses. When we got outside, it was even worse. That was just way too bright. Being in the real world just hurt too much - in more ways than one.

We got into dad's car and just started driving. I looked at him, confused. "Your car is too conspicuous. People know your car and would expect you to be at school, so taking dad's car gives us a little more anonymity," he explained.

As we drove we just listened to music. I knew he was giving me my space and trying not to push, but this was just awkward: we never went a minute without saying something to each other, let alone drive in silence. I needed to break it; I didn't want to talk, but at least he could.

"How's James?" I asked quietly.

"He's good. He's actually here; he's staying at Alice's while I'm back at the house," he said.

I was surprised he was even here. Now, I felt bad that I was separating them. It was like I was a disease, heart-brokenitis, that needed to be quarantined. There was no reason for Mike to stay with me and be away from James - I would be alright if they both were there, it's not like they'd catch anything. They could both stay at the house, even though I really didn't want to see a happy couple around me. "You can stay at Alice's too, you know. You don't have to stay at home and babysit me. I'll be fine," I told him, figuring it would probably be better for everyone if he just stayed over there too.

"Bells, I'm not about to leave you. _You're_ the reason that I came up here – I wanted to hang out with _you._ It's really no big deal, I see him all the time, but you, I only get to see every so often. The only reason he came up was to keep me company on the flight," he explained.

Even though his explanation made me feel a little better, I still felt really guilty that I was separating them. I was the basket case they couldn't even leave alone because they were worried about what she was going to do… great.

"Well, he's more than welcome to stay at the house," I said, silently praying he wouldn't actually take me up on that offer.

He smiled at me. "Thanks Bella, but I don't want him here. This is just you and me time – his ass can stay at Alice's and they can go shopping all the live long day. In fact, he'd probably prefer that," he commented.

We were at a coffee shop on the outskirt of town and pulled around back to self park, keeping it low profile instead of valeting it. We walked in the back entrance and went up to the counter to order. I still wasn't hungry, but Mike insisted that I put something in my stomach so I ordered a blueberry muffin and some tea.

"Why don't we take a walk through the park," Mike suggested, when we started getting some onlookers from around the café.

I nodded my head and headed out the door. There was a park probably two minutes away so we just walked, and continued doing so when we got there. I sipped from my tea, but didn't even touch my muffin, which made Mike frown. But I truly wasn't hungry - he'd just have to suck it up. What more did he want? I was out of the house, showered, and drinking fluids - I thought that was a huge accomplishment.

"I can guess why you're here," I told him, finally sitting down on a nearby bench.

"What? A brother can't come home and visit his sister?" he asked, innocently.

I raised my eyebrows. "No, a brother can – I just know that this particular brother doesn't usually, and would never make his boyfriend stay elsewhere unless there was a reason for it. So who called you," I asked.

I knew who he was going to say, but I just wanted him to admit it. I mean, James is even staying at her house.

"Edward called," he told me.

I flinched just hearing his name. I was a little shocked; that was _not_ the name I was expecting. This was the first time that I had thought about his name, let alone heard it, out loud since Saturday. It was like someone had knocked the wind out of me. I waited for the tears to come, but nothing did; maybe I was all cried out. All I felt now was emptiness, that there was nothing else left. That kind of scared me more than anything.

"He… he did?" I stuttered.

He nodded his head slowly. "Yeah, he's really worried about you. After he found you passed out in the courtyard on Saturday he didn't know what to think. So he actually asked me to come up and check on you," he explained.

Wait, _what_?! I had passed out in the courtyard at the hotel? I don't remember that - but I don't really remember how I had gotten home either. I thought I eventually got up and made my way to the car, driving myself home - that I was just in too much a state of shock to have remembered. I needed more information on what went down that night.

"What do you mean 'he found me passed out'? What did he say to you - verbatim" I asked.

He looked surprised that I had no idea what he was talking about. "He said he found you and that he was worried," Mike replied.

I frowned. "That does not sound like verbatim," I told him.

"_Sorry_, didn't know I was supposed to actually say everything _verbatim," _he answered me, sarcastically. "He said that something happened between the two of you and that you ran off. The girls tried to talk to you, but you didn't want to talk to them or to take you home. He was upset that the girls had left you when you were so upset so he went looking for you. He found you in some courtyard passed out, and you didn't look..." he said, not finishing that thought. "He called Emmett and Alice to come down to help him bring you home while Alice followed in her car so that they could be taken back to the hotel. He stayed with you for a while, but he said you were passed out, and eventually left with Alice and Emmett. He said he's never been more worried about you and that I needed to come up to check on you because you hadn't spoken to anyone, that your phone was shut off, and that no one could come in the house to see if you were all right. And that is pretty much what he told me over the phone - verbatim. But he really sounded upset and worried about you Bells - really distraught," Mike concluded.

My phone was shut off? I knew I wasn't answering it, but maybe the battery had died as well. In fact, I wasn't exactly sure of where my phone was at the moment; I had kinda thrown it somewhere when I came in the house on Saturday night - or I thought it was Saturday night.

"He's worried about me," I scoffed, "That's really none of his concern. He made that _abundantly_ clear."

"Okay, I know something happened between the two of you, but he didn't give me any details. In fact, he seemed like he didn't really know or understand what happened. Have you talked to him about it? Maybe this is just a misunderstanding?" he asked.

I withdrew a little bit. "Are you taking his side?" I asked, hurt.

He shook his head. "No, of course not, but I also don't know what happened. All I know is that you were the happiest I'd ever seen you when you were with him – that you could really be yourself. So I'm hoping that it's just miscommunication, because I wouldn't want you two to throw away something so great because of something trivial," he suggested.

I glared at him through my sunglasses, which I'm sure he could tell. "I don't think sleeping with somebody else is a misunderstanding or trivial," I spat out.

I had finally said it; the thing I had been dreading to say, or even think about, since I had found out. The thing I really couldn't come to grips with, either, until I said it out loud – I was hoping that it was all just a bad dream or something. Again, I tensed up and waited for the waterworks, but nothing came out: it was just the emptiness again.

He looked a little shocked, but I could see that he was trying to work things out in his head. Mike was extremely emotional and let his heart lead him with everything _he_ did, but when it came to _other_ people and _their_ problems, he was a lot more rational and logical – he needed all the facts; he needed definitive proof. He reached out a hand to comfort me, but I pulled away. He waited to see if I relaxed a little before he said anything else. When I did, he finally continued. "So what exactly happened?" he asked softly.

I didn't know if I could discuss this. It was still too fresh and the wound was still gaping open – it would be like jumping in the ocean _while_ you were having open heart surgery, and that didn't sound like a great idea to me. But what did Professor Leonard always say? We needed to talk things out and discuss our emotions; that's how we got to the truth and to a better place, _allegedly_. And if I was going to talk to anyone about this, it should be Mike.

I took a deep breath and prepared myself to tell him what happened that night. "So I had already told you about the auction and everything; that I was supposed to go with Edward on the date but someone out bid me and all that?" I asked.

He nodded his head. I was glad I didn't have to go that far back, because I really didn't even want to think about the auction night, yet again.

"Okay. So he was going on the auction date with _Victoria_," I growled her name. "That's the girl. We were all meeting up after all their dates to have a little party in… _his_ room. I had a big surprise for him that night, which I couldn't wait to tell him. Dad's people had, somehow, gotten me out of the date with Jacob and I was waiting until when I saw him that night to let him know. I was just so excited to tell him. I guess I rushed to get there and must have gotten there a couple minutes early - clearly, that was a couple minutes too soon," I continued, pausing.

I needed a breath – here comes the salt water on the wound. This was going to be the hard part and Mike sensed that was the case too, because he, reassuringly, patted my knee before pulling away.

"So I get to his room and knock on the door. The first time there is no response, which I figure is just him in the bathroom or something. So I knock again, and this time there is laughing and giggling coming from the other side of the door, but it's not anyone's voice that I recognize. And then the person speaks, joking about missing them and finally getting the ice for the champagne as she opens the door. And low and behold, it's _Victoria_ with messed up hair, smeared makeup, holding a bottle of Dom, wearing _nothing_ but one of _Ed… his_," I winced, saying his name was just too hard, "shirts. She seemed all surprised to see me, and even apologized that I saw her in that condition – that she thought the party was a little later and that they had some more time to tidy up before then. I looked around the room: the bed was a mess, completely disheveled, clothes were strewn about, they had taken dinner upstairs - dessert for two - and there were empty glasses around the room, when he had promised that he wasn't going to drink that night. He was nowhere to be found, but his new leather jacket was rumpled on the ground – and he _never_ throws his clothes around unless more pressing matters are at hand. _Victoria_ said he was just getting ice for the champagne and that he would be back in just a second, to just wait for him while she put something else on," I continued.

At this point, I could feel myself shaking a little bit and my jaw was clenched. I needed to take a breath and just relax for a minute or I was really going to flip out. There were still no tears; there was just a bottomless pit sadness and pain.

"I made up some excuse about leaving and going and finding Alice, which she accepted; she probably just wanted me out of the room to continue with their sexcapade. I left and started heading for the elevator when he came around the corner, holding that fucking ice bucket. His hair was a mess. His shirt seemed more wrinkled than one of his t-shirts usually were: he _looked_ like something was up. He called out my name, but I kept walking. He finally caught up to me and tried to cover up what I had just caught him in. I asked him just a simple thing, if he had kept his promise about not drinking. It wouldn't have been a big deal if he had drank; he just needed to tell me the truth, I could at least respect him after all of this, but he lied. And then that was it. I told him to never speak to me again. I knew what happened and I didn't want to be around him. I couldn't take it anymore – I just left. I needed to leave so I high tailed it down the stairs, sprained my ankle as the girls chased me down, and then broke down in the courtyard of the hotel…" I trailed off, I just couldn't talk about that. That just hurt _too_ much.

"I went home, or thought I went home, and hadn't left my room since. You are now here and that's where we are now. A great weekend huh?" I concluded.

He just looked at me stunned; I don't think he had prepared himself for that. "Well, that's a lot of information to process in five minutes," he stated.

"Yea, try taking that all in while it was actually happening to you," I replied.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder; this time I didn't move away but moved closer to him and rested my head on him. "Bells, I know this is hard, but you'll get through this. He's really not worth it. If all this did happen," he said pausing.

I moved my head and looked over at him. "_**If**_ this happened? I know what I saw Mike, and I'm not going to…" I began, starting to feel worked up again.

"Shh, calm down," he said, rubbing my shoulder and trying to placate me. "_Since_, this happened, its better that you found out now before you got further invested and more feelings got involved. Just imagine if you loved him..." he stated.

I stiffened a little at this, trying to make it seem like a cool gust just passed me.

He noticed this immediately. "Bella, is there more to this than you're letting on? _Do_ you love him?" he asked.

I just looked down; I couldn't answer that question truthfully. That was what I was trying to make myself forget. What I was trying to avoid thinking about since this all went down. I needed to not love him. I told myself that I didn't love him, but I don't think emotions work like that, that it's just that easy.

He squeezed my shoulder. "Well, I guess that answers the question," he said, breezing past that question. "I know that makes it even worse, but you will get through this. I know that sounds like a bunch of crap, but you will and will be stronger for it. Hiding out, like _you_ did something wrong is not the answer, either. You shouldn't be the one avoiding your friends and not going to school over this. I know you're hurt, but there is no reason he should make you feel bad. I mean look at you, you're freaking Isabella Swan! Do you know how many guys would do anything just so that you would talk to them? And I'm talking gorgeous guys: celebrities, models, you name it, they've asked me and mom about you" he said, trying to cheer me up.

I thought about it for a moment, I was hurt and broken, but was there a reason for _me_ to hide out? He was right, _I_ shouldn't be the one who's scared to come out of her house, because _I_ wasn't the one who did anything wrong.

"I mean be upset Bells, that's only natural, you're hurting, but be who you are. You aren't a meek individual who hides from her problems and is scared of other people; you are the person who other people are scared of and don't want to mess with. You're fucking bad ass, which runs in the family. So you need to get off your ass and show them who they're messing with; that one stupid guy isn't going to ruin you - that you can rise above it. Hell, you did that with Jake – and he was waaay…," he commented, ending his motivational speech.

I shot him a look that warned him to not complete that thought. Right now, the two of them weren't even in the same ballpark in my eyes. At least I knew what I got with Jacob, he was up front about how shady he was.

I _had_ done that with Jacob, but he was different; I had never cared about Jake the way I cared about _him_. But maybe it was the same in principle: that I just needed to not give a shit about him and be who I was, even if I didn't feel that way at first. Maybe then the actual feelings would dissipate. The problem was, I didn't even know if I could be myself right now. I mean, the former me would never hide out in her room and cry over a guy, but the former me had never been in love before either. So if that was the case, who was I now?

"What if I can't be that person now? That person who I used to be," I asked Mike, meekly.

He smirked. "Well, then you do what every other person has done before you: you fake it, until you make it. And you fake it more than you've ever faked before – just take it up a notch. Hopefully, in time, it won't be an act anymore, but you'll actually feel like yourself. It'll take time, but eventually, you'll be back to being you," he told me, rubbing my arm.

I let out a deep exhale. "I hope you're right, because, as of right now, I feel nothing like myself," I told him.

"I know, but you will in time. Besides, you have a secret weapon that most people don't have," he explained.

I looked at him confused. "You've got me and James – between the two of us, we're going to make you more fantastic than you have ever been," he stated.

I still looked at him confused. "I know you guys are great, but I think I'm a little beyond your repair. I don't think the two of you are going to be able to fix my emotion breakdown in the time you are here," I said.

"You and I know that, but everyone else doesn't. You just have to _appear_ that you are over him and this whole situation. Bella, bring out your inner mom and act your ass off," he replied.

I scoffed at this. "Both of us know I didn't inherit those genes – I'm an awful actress," I said.

"Yes, you are," he agreed. "You totally got all of dad's genes when it came to that stuff, but you can do something exceptionally well - which you got from dad as well. You can be an extraordinary bitch – so just play that up and you will be golden."

I thought about that; would it actually work? He might be right, that pretending to be over it might actually speed the process along.

I still must have looked hesitant because Mike jumped in with another comment. "And I'll be by your side through the whole thing. I'm not leaving until Friday," he told me.

As much as I still didn't want to do anything, I knew I needed to get out of this funk. The hurt and the emptiness wasn't going to go away anytime soon, but maybe I could push it down a little bit so that I felt a little bit more like myself.

"And Bells," he said a little more seriously. "I know I said this before, but I'll reiterate. I know this is hard now, but you will get over it. When you're through being upset and hurting… _people_ will be there, waiting for you to be ready because you are the real deal. Don't give up on love because of this; this is just one the painful things about growing up – you'll come out stronger for it," he said.

I listened to what he said, taking it in. Again, I know he was trying to cheer me up, but this was a little too intense for what I was feeling right now. I breezed past it; I could always go back to what he said later.

"Okay, let's do it - let's let out my inner biatch," I told him, changing the topic and getting up from the park bench.

Now he looked confused. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Well, I am standing aren't I?" I answered him.

He shrugged. "Starting with the bitchy comments already I see... That was easier than expected, I thought you would need more convincing," he explained.

"Me too," I replied.

Maybe I was more ready to be back to normal than I thought, because I thought I would need more convincing too. But maybe, I just didn't want to put up a fight, because there was no more fight in me. That seemed like more of a plausible explanation.

"So let's just get home and look over wardrobe choices. A key component to this is making sure you look smokin hot, because who's going to take you seriously if you show up to school looking the way you did this morning? Besides, we're going to make Edward rue the day he ever looked at another girl, with your utter hotness," he told me.

"Okay, whatever you want to do," I answered him.

He did not seem too happy with that response; I think he wanted me a little more energetic on the matter. That wasn't going to happen though. I might be going along with this Bella Divafication, but we both knew this was just an act and I needed to save up all my acting for when I was at school.

**what did ya think? let me know. ;) i'd love to hear from you guys.**

**the next chapter will be in edward's pov. it might take a little longer than expected, just because i'm starting to work on another story as well and i have yet to figure out the balance between the two. so be on the look out for the other story (tbd when it will actually come out, but i will say that it involves some figure skating action! )**

**there are a couple theme songs to this chapter, to get me in the right mind set - the links are posted on my profile. the next chapter, will, as well, have a couple theme songs - these were a little tougher to write than my normal chapter's and i needed to get in the proper mindset, so look for those tomorrow! **


	30. Straddling a Thin Line

**soooo sorry that it's taken me so long to post. we had a family emergency which left me a little mia (so if i'm not posting as frequently, that's the reasoning behind that - fyi)**

**to everyone who commented/review/pmed, you guys are freakin awesome! so glad you're enjoying the story. you all make me smile! :)**

**huge THANK YOU to tcg, she helped me scour all my possible outfit choices and narrow them down - and beleive me it was an ardeuous task! amandacullen84, you're phenomenal!**

**all of Bella's outfit selections are already up on my profile, so go take a peek at those and see if they live up to what you're expecting. love to hear what you think.**

**without further adieu...**

EPOV

Day three and this was really starting to feel like torture. Bella had come back to school on Wednesday, but had yet to talk to me – at all. In fact, she barely acknowledged my presence. It was like I didn't even exist to her. But maybe I shouldn't have been so hard on myself because she was barely speaking to anybody. She went about her daily activities, but kept to herself more than usual; even Rose and Alice were starting to feel a little snubbed by her.

They were all pretending like nothing had happened. They hung out and went on with their daily activities, like usual, even though Bella was still withdrawn and hadn't told them what had happened to make her so upset. The only reason I knew this was because I had overheard, and by overheard I meant standing at Rose's door and listening in on her conversation with Emmett, the other night on the phone. I knew that everyone was wondering what had happened that night, including myself. I still wasn't exactly sure what had happened, aside from Bella seeing Victoria in my room. Granted, I knew that just seeing Victoria there would have been bad enough and would have upset her, but it shouldn't have elicited the type of response it did. Rosalie and Alice came in the room with me after Bella left and saw that Victoria looked pretty sick. They didn't understand the extent of Bella's reaction that night either. When we talked about it later, they agreed that there had to me more to it than Bella just seeing Victoria in my room. So I was now thoroughly confused as to what else had transpired that night. On top of that I was missing Bella like crazy. The lack of communication between the two of us was driving me insane. I knew if I could just talk to her, we could work all of this out… I had to believe that.

"Dude, did you see Bella today?"I overheard some random guy say.

I waited for a response but all I could discern, since I wasn't about to turn around and look at them, was that the other person must have shook his head no.

"Well, you can't miss her. She, _for sure_, is going to get a dress code violation today or be sent home, but it's _totally_ worth it," the other guy gushed over her.

I really wanted to turn around and see who the hell was talking about _my_ Bella that way. I wanted to tell those two to shut the fuck up and to mind their manners, but refrained. My emotions had been running high the past couple of days and if I acted on them, I would most likely do something that I would regret later. Holding my temper back was the best idea. I suppose it wasn't their fault that they noticed Bella - all of her recent outfits just screamed "look at me." I had a suspicion that these _alterations_ to our normal uniform had something to do with me – Bella wanted to get people's attention and make a statement. _Or_, just to simply torture me.

Since her return to school, Bella had turned the hallways into her own private runway. I mean we had a dress code here for a reason. I thought she would have gotten written up yesterday, but no, she just got a damn warning. What kind of disciplinary action was that? After two days of basically giving the bird to the administration and doing whatever she wanted, she just got a slap on the wrist? Granted, Wednesday _was_ free dress, but she threw the guidelines we were all supposed to abide by out the window. Free dress was supposed to be jeans and a polo or a sweater, something casual; it was _not_ a shirt that she fashioned as a dress with a slit up to her crotch. Clearly, that should be a violation, _even with_ free dress - was I the only one who thought that? She looked incredible, but she shouldn't be looking that way at school. God, I was starting to sound like Charlie now…

Day two was worse. A skin tight white skirt, which at least had no crotch baring slit, and a plunging - and by plunging, I meant all the way to her stomach - midnight blue blouse. Again, the outfit looked phenomenal on her, but that wasn't the point; well, to me it wasn't. The blue, which she _knew_ was my favorite color on her, looked gorgeous. It was really hard for me to focus on anything aside from her when she was in the room. This seemed to be the reaction she was going for, because every time I seemed to be around her confidence and bitchiness was taken to a whole new level. This display made me lean more towards the theory that she _was_ deliberately parading around the school, in her sexy as hell outfits, just trying to torture me. But at least torture was something. It was better than being ignored and forgotten about - she actually cared enough to torture me. That was some sick and twisted logic I had concocted to justify all of this. All yesterday I held my breath, hoping that everything near her top area stayed where it was supposed to because if she had any minor movement, she would have had a _major_ wardrobe malfunction. And if _that_ happened, regardless of if she was mad at me or not, I would have carried her out of the classroom and throttled whoever dared to even breathe in her general direction.

So, who knew what today was going to be like. By the tone of those horny underclassmen, this was going to be a dusey of an outfit. Joy...

"Bro, I'm sorry," Em said, coming up from behind and placing a hand on my shoulder.

I looked at him confused and then nodded in understanding as Bella came from around the corner. I checked to make sure that my jaw wasn't on the floor, because I was literally shocked by her outfit. This was a whole new level of incredible inappropriateness - though, in private I would have _no_ problem with her choice of wardrobe. It was like she was in slow motion, floating down the hall. Everyone around her just stopped and watched: either basking in her hotness or flabbergasted that she had the balls to wear this to school. Admin _had_ to do something about this, if not for her blatant disregard to school rules then, at least, for my sanity. I should have expected what was wearing today given the types of outfits she had put together the last two days, but I just wasn't prepared for what she had on. She was wearing some of the shortest shorts I had ever seen, coupled with some knee high stiletto boots and an asymmetrical, _very_ fitted, long sleeved top that left one of her arms completely exposed as well as being dangerously close to having her fall out of her top. _Everything_ was breaking violation, except the school's blazer, which she was folded across her arm.

I was conflicted between wanting to shield her from every onlooker's eyes and dragging her to the empty wing of the school and having my way with her. Of course, _she_ wouldn't have been too thrilled with either of those scenarios. So, instead, I just stood there speechless – another genius move on my part…really brilliant.

"Bella, don't you think…" Alice began to say, but stopped when Mr. Torrence, our AVP approached Bella.

Thank god, I now had some restored faith in the administration. She wouldn't be able to parade around in that outfit all day. She'd be written up and forced to go home and change, or forced to wear PE clothes or something. I really couldn't care less what they had her change into, as long as it wasn't what she was currently wearing.

"Ms. Swan, can we have a word?" he asked Bella.

"Why?" she asked defiantly, arching her eyebrows.

He looked around at the rest of us in the hallway, basically, warning all the students that they should leave immediately. The majority heeded this warning, clearing out of the hallway, just leaving Alice, Emmett and I. When he realized that the three of us weren't leaving, he glared a little more, though, that did nothing to strike fear into our hearts or whatever he was going for.

"I think you know why," he said, glancing at her outfit.

This was supposed to come off threatening, but instead, it mostly came out somewhat skeezy; like he was checking her out and trying to hit on Bella instead of disapproving of her outfit.

"Are you talking about my outfit?" she asked innocently.

"We warned you about this yesterday Bella. You agreed to follow the dress code and that yesterday's violation was a onetime thing. The only thing that is according to code is the blazer – everything else you will need to change," he stated.

"Well, I could wear _only_ the blazer if that makes things more acceptable," she suggested flirtatiously, with a smirk.

Oh _hell_ no. I couldn't believe she had just told him that. I knew Bella wasn't one to back down and she _did_like to push the envelope, but this was a little much even for her, especially to say to an AVP. Then, mental image quickly flashed in my head of Bella just wearing her blazer and the knee high boots she had on. This was possibly the best idea Mr. Torrance had ever come up with. But then I remembered _other_ people were at school as well – so unless I wanted to go to jail for killing someone because they looked at her, that was a no go. The only solution was for her to go home and change; end of story.

He flashed her a disapproving look at her suggestion. Clearly, he was not amused.

Bella held her ground – she was unwavering. "I'm not going to change and there's no need for any formal action to be taken because I have a pass for free dress. So, I believe I'm completely free to wear whatever I want – that _is_ by definition of what free dress means, isn't that correct?" she asked him in a patronizing tone, handing him her free dress pass.

Mr. Torrence got upset that one of his former students was now showing him up and undermining his authority in front of others, even if the others were just Alice, Emmett, and I. Around here, he was supposed to be the hard-ass AVP, the one who everyone was scarred of, and to his credit, most people were. Bella was, clearly, not in that fearful majority.

He looked down at the pass and quietly growled to himself. "You know, for this to be accepted, it has to be cleared ahead of time and you have to turn it in at the beginning of the day," he told Bella, reaching for something to regain control of the situation.

"I'm fully aware of that; I _did_clear it ahead of time. Yesterday, when I got my warning about my outfit, I cleared it with Mrs. Shwartz while I was in the office – you can go check with her if you'd like. And it _is_ the beginning of the day, is it not? The first bell just rang; doesn't that signify the start of a new school day?" she answered him, again, in a patronizing tone. "I was on my way in to turn in my pass when you stopped me; since you're here, I figured I'd just hand this to you know, saving me a now, superfluous, stop," she explained.

I glanced at Alice and Emmett who were now slowly backing away and almost around the corner. They knew where this was headed and didn't want to get caught in the crossfire. There was no reason for them to get detention or something along those lines just because Torrence was going to need to take out his displaced aggression on someone.

I, on the other hand, had no intention of leaving, even if he tried to expel me. Unlike the other two, I wasn't scared of his intimidation antics; there was nothing he could do to me for just standing in the hallway. If he did, there would be a bigger shit storm than anything he'd ever dealt with before. I wasn't about to go to detention because I was standing in the hallway, that's ludicrous.

"Mr. Cullen, don't you think it's about time you got to class? I wouldn't want you to be late," Torrence said, feigning concern over my academic wellbeing.

If he actually cared about me being late then I was a monkey's uncle. He didn't really give a shit if I was late or not, he just wanted me out of that hallway so that there would be no witnesses to his actual lack of authority. Bella, clearly, wasn't backing down and I'm sure he didn't want that information to spread to other students – or to give them ideas that insubordination to the rules were going to be accepted. But, as much as he wanted me gone, there was no way in hell I was going to leave. I was going to stay there and support Bella… even if she didn't want me to.

"I actually have a free period right now; so I'm good," I lied.

Mr. Torrence frowned at my response – he was not happy that, now, two of his students weren't doing what he said.

I looked over to Bella to see her reaction. Her expression hadn't changed, but I thought I saw the edged of her mouth turn up slightly, like she might have been considering a semi-smile due to my response to Mr. Torrence. But that was just it, a fleeting thought, because in no time she was back to her stoic self.

"Alright then, _both_ of you can come to the office with me to straighten this matter out," he said, walking towards the office door.

"That's fine if you want to talk to him about being in the hallways after the bell has rung, but there is no reason for _me_ to come. I already gave you my pass and cleared it with the office to be my free dress day – so really that would be a pointless stop for me to make. So, I think I'll just be on my way to class," Bella stated and began to walk away, before he could challenge her response.

His jaw clenched as she did this. He, also, began turning a slight shade of pink because he was so irritated. She really must have pushed his buttons. You would have thought that he would have been used to this type of behavior, to a certain extent. Yes, he was the most "feared" faculty member here, but that still didn't mean much. Most students here were barely scared of the law, since they could get their parents to get them out of anything, so I doubted that a lowly school administrator could really strike any real fear in them. The only reason most students went along with what he said was because they feared academic repercussions that might impact their choice of colleges or they simply didn't want to waste extra time on him fighting a meaningless battle. It was easier to just go along with the rules than defy them. But it shouldn't have surprised him that some students still did whatever they damn well pleased.

"Bella," he said sharply, raising his voice. "I just want to make sure that everything is really how you said it is," he concluded, as calmly as he could.

She turned around but still made no motion to walk towards him, either. "Well, everything is – don't worry your pretty little head about it," she told him, dismissively.

He turned another shade of red and took a deep breath. He definitely looked like he was going to explode. I needed to do something to intervene before he really flew off the handle.

"Okay Mr. Torrence, how about I go with you and if something is wrong I can just go and get Bella," I offered.

He said nothing, ignoring me altogether; he was just glaring at Bella now. They stood there staring each other down.

Okay, that didn't work, so I tried reasoning with Bella – maybe that would go over a little better. "Come on Bella, just go in the office and clear this up. It'll just be faster that way," I implored her – I really didn't want to see her get expelled over something as trivial as an outfit.

Actually, no; by no means was this was a trivial outfit. This was an outfit to make a point, further reinforcing the idea that the parade of outfits was all for my expense. But I'm sure getting expelled was not in the equation…

She shifted her gaze and glared at me. No, it wasn't a glare, it was a death stare – I could almost feel the fire. But I would take this over what I had been getting from her for the past week which was absolutely nothing. She barely acknowledged my presence, usually, let alone looked at me with _any_ sort of emotion. So I would take hate – I would take anything she would give me, actually. Pity, hate, rage, contempt...whatever. I mean hate was better than certain things. And you know what they say about the thin line of love and hate, so maybe I just needed to edge her a little more towards the middle of that line.

It was good to see _something_ coming from her. To most people, she looked together, with her confident and composed attitude and the way she dressed, but I knew her better. Something was missing and she just couldn't fake that. Everyone, including our friends, believed the image she was putting out there, but I knew something was up. She was putting up a good front, but her eyes gave her away. Most of the time they were just empty, almost lifeless and sad– which I'm sure is partially why she kept her sunglasses on more now, so that her eyes wouldn't give her away. But, right now, her eyes had that spark and actually said something: they were mad. She was alive again and I had caused this reaction – this was almost as good as her actually speaking to me. I needed to keep this going and have the old Bella reemerge and be normal again – well, as normal as we could be given the circumstances.

_I_ had made her get that fire back. Nobody else had been able to do that, which caused me to smile slightly. I was determined to help her keep that fire and bring that vivacious Bella back, even if that meant making, and keeping, her angrier at me than she already was. I would endure all the anger and hurt she threw at me to make her better. Not just for her, but to make things better between us - I would be that asshole, if she needed it, to get her back to herself. I wanted her to get back to the way she used to be, instead of the withdrawn shell she'd become. She needed to be Bella again, for her sake and mine.

Besides, I would need her to start acting like herself again if we were ever to be us again. This was the start to getting her back on path.

"Alright, fine. Neither of you want to go, than the two of you can spend your afternoon in detention," Torrence told us.

"I'm not going to detention for something that I didn't do wrong," Bella stated.

"Neither am I," I added on.

"Well, we could change the detention to a suspension if you'd like: failure to comply with rules, on both parts… not listening to administration. It's really your choice," he said, glancing between the two of us, awaiting our response.

"Caius? What's going on out here with the students?" Mr. Davidson asked.

Since his promotion to principal, he'd been trying to take a very hands on approach with the students – wanting to be involved with everything.

"Nothing Aro, just a little disciplinary problem," Torrence explained.

"I see… Either bring them into the office or let them be off to class – we don't want to make a scene," Davidson concluded as he walked back into his office.

"Come on Bella, let's just get this over with and not get into any more trouble," I told her quietly, placing my hand on the small of her back and guiding her to the office door.

I knew this small action would only anger her more, which was what I intended. There was also an added bonus of being able to touch her. So it was a double win, which allowed me closer to her and a step in the right direction to get her to her maddest.

"Good choice," Torrence said, holding the door open to the office.

"Don't touch me," Bella growled at me, as she pulled away and walked through the door.

"_Sorrrry_," I told her with a grin on my face as she walked ahead of me.

We both made our way into the room and took a seat as he wrote up the detention slips. There were only two chairs to choose from, which were fairly close to each other; Bella was not happy over this. She tried to scoot her chair as far as she could without it being noticed.

"Bella. Edward. I would say it was a pleasure but clearly this is not a social call," Davidson said, pleasantly greeting us. "What exactly happened Caius?" he asked Davidson.

"Well, there was Bella's blatant dress code violation and Edward was roaming about the halls aimlessly after the bell had rung," Torrence explained.

Davidson left the room for something and returned with some kind of list. "Well, it seems that Bella was cleared to have a free dress day, today," he explained, causing Bella to plaster an I-told-you-so smile across her face. "And it seems that Edward is late to his first period Literature class," he concluded.

"I thought you said you had a free period?" Torrence asked.

"Oh did I?" I asked, playing dumb.

"Either way, they both were late to their classes and breaking some school rules – Bella might have a free dress pass, but she was warned yesterday that her outfit choice was unacceptable, should have known better than showing up in _that_," Mr. Torrence whispered to Mr. Davidson.

I did not like the way they were talking about Bella. I felt my jaw clenching and my hands balling up into fists; I needed to keep all of this in check though. I knew I could get away with a lot of stuff, but punching a school administrator? I was fairly sure that would definitely get me expelled from school.

"And if he had just stayed out of this whole thing, he could have avoided this situation altogether. So now, they both are getting detention, unless you can think of _something else_ more fitting," Torrence concluded with a small grin.

Davidson thought for a moment, but didn't seem to think of anything else. "No, whatever you come up with will be fine Caius," he told him, causing Mr. Torrence to frown, clearly he was hoping for a more creative punishment. "I'm sorry about this you two, but rules are rules. I look forward to seeing you at the benefit tonight," Davidson said with a smile before he headed out the door.

Tonight? Fuck! There was the stupid annual lip synching contest that was a fundraiser for the senior class' gift to the school. Damn it; I really was not in the mood to do anything tonight.

"Oh, that totally _completely_ slipped my mind. I suppose you won't be able to go home and change for that tonight – you'll be stuck here instead. And I know how much your _wardrobe_ means to you," Mr. Torrence said with a snicker, directing that last comment at Bella. "I think you'll manage to get by, though."

Bella simply glared at him.

"Here are your detention slips. I'll see you at the end of the day," he told us, handing each of us our slips as we silently walked towards the door.

"And Bella, cover up," he told her, tossing her jacket at her – which she deliberately left on her chair.

* * *

Well, since I had decided to stick to Operation Piss off Bella, it was now or never. Detention would be over within a few minutes and then we would be surrounded by everyone else at that damn lip synch contest. The two of us hadn't uttered one word to each other since we entered detention and I doubted she was waiting for the perfect moment to just strike up a conversation with me. Bella's psychology teacher, Dr. Leonard, was supervising detention. I had no idea who she was aside from what Bella had told me about her - and Bella spoke of her in very high esteem. The two of them seemed to get along very well and kept talking throughout our detainment. It was detention, not office hours; we weren't supposed to talk right? At least that's what I saw in the movies; I had never been in detention before. We were the only people there, but as Davidson had so eloquently put it "rules are rules."

Bella seemed to be enjoying talking to her and I didn't want to interrupt them when she actually looked content and like she was enjoying herself. She had retreated back into her withdrawn, shell of who Bella really was – the Bella I had seen all week. Even though she seemed to be having a good time talking with Dr. Leonard, Bella still seemed vacant; that she wasn't really listening or taking in what they were talking about, just going along with what was expected of her. It appeared as if my plan wasn't working. That the spark I thought I had ignited this morning had fizzled out. Granted, it had only been three days, but I had seen enough of the listless Bella – I wanted my Bella back. Unfortunately, that meant I would just have to push a little harder.

Dr. Leonard finally left the room and I knew this was my opportunity to at least try to get through to her. Now or never Edward.

"You know, it's your fault that we are in here," I told her flippantly, snapping the book I was pretending to read shut.

"Excuse me?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at me as if she didn't understand what I was saying.

"That outfit of yours: you knew it wouldn't be allowed, even with free dress, yet you still wore it. Seems like a _stupid_ move to me," I explained to her, dismissively.

I saw that spark immediately come back to her eyes. She did not like the fact that I was challenging her. The fire I saw this morning had come back, and with a vengeance. This time, there was even more fury in her eyes. I was slowly breaking through… if you could call hatred and fury directed at you from the girl you love a good thing. But right now I'd take what I could get.

"Good thing I never _asked_ for your opinion," she spat at me, narrowing her eyes even more at me, but holding my gaze.

"I know you never asked for it, but if you're making moronic moves like this, I figured you could use all the help you could get. What is this a cry for help or something? Trying to get my attention so desperately that you are pulling out all the stops on ridiculous ideas?" I told her – trying to stay in asshole character and not retract everything I had just said.

I didn't want to say these things to her, but I knew they were what she needed to hear in order to finally get through to her. It literally took everything in me to say these things to her and sound like I meant them.

If I thought she was pissed before, well, this comment just took it to another level. It killed me to say these things to her, but when I said them, I saw emotion come back to her. She was back to that firecracker that I had fallen for. If I didn't know better I would say that it was passion in her eyes… but unfortunately, I did know better.

She took a breath, trying to remain composed as well, but I could see her seething with anger. "What exactly are you trying to imply: that I give a shit about what you think? I could care less what you do. I didn't ask you to stay in the fucking hallway – that was all your choice, so you can blame your detention on yourself. I have nothing to do with you being a _dumbass_ who doesn't know when to leave. So maybe this is _your _cry for help – have you ever thought of that?" she retorted.

I knew this was all my idea, but what she said was starting to get to me a little bit and stung. I knew I was the one who started this, that she was hurt and that this was the type of response I wanted to elicit from her, but I only had so much patience and restraint. There was only so much I could take before I would actually snap, which would not help the situation. I should have thought of that minor tidbit while I was concocting this plan: that both of us knew how to push each other's buttons and I tended to have a short fuse. I tried to, logically, think of what my next move should be – to strategize. If I went by emotion alone, that would get me in a lot of trouble and only put more space between us. I was doing this for us. I was fighting for us the only way I could think of. Bella was the most important thing to me and if I didn't fix this with her, nothing else mattered. Even if this made me utterly miserable, if I knew that she would be herself again, all of this would be worth it.

I got up from my desk and moved a little closer to her; maybe closing the physical proximity gap would help the situation. "_I'm_the one being a dumbass?" I scoffed at her. "Am I the one prancing around in slutty little outfits trying to get the attention of every guy that passes by me, especially the one I'm _deliberately_trying to ignore? I think that's almost the definition of a dumbass, sweetheart. And don't even pretend that, that's not what you're doing, because I'm not stupid. I know you take your game up a whole other level when I'm around, pretending like you're fine and that you really don't care about me when you really do," I told her smugly, leaning against her desk.

She was seething at this comment – she was beginning to turn a little pink. I knew she was trying to hold back still, giving off the appearance that what I had just said hadn't hit the nail on the head. I saw her internal struggle – trying to figure out what her next move was going to be. She was trying to keep the cool, nonchalant, bitch front up, but I could see the real her starting to break through. This was a very thin and tricky line I was walking; hopefully, I was playing it the right way.

Bella got up and faced me. She was standing her ground, literally. The internal battle she was waging was done; the emotional side had won and had now taken over. She looked fierce, like a bat out of hell - someone you did not want to mess with. That was great news for her because I had finally broken through to her, but bad news for me, because I was the one she was about to unleash on. I just had to remember this was what I was trying to do… I wanted this reaction; it was all part of my plan. That wouldn't make what she was about to say feel any better though.

"Who the fuck do you think you are? Just because every other mindless drone in this town thinks you're something great, I think you've deluded yourself into believing that as well. I hate to break it to you, but you're not. Take a good look at yourself; you're just a self-absorbed, pretentious, egomaniac who needs to make himself feel better by putting other people down. You think I would waste my time on somebody like that? You think I do _anything_ because you're around. That's preposterous. You mean _nothing_ to me – less than nothing in fact. I don't know how to make that any clearer to you: I, do not, want you, around. Actually, I don't want anything to do with you – I don't even want to _think_ of you… I don't think about you. I want _nothing_ to do with you. If I wanted to talk to you, if you meant _anything_ to me, don't you think that I would have made an attempt to call you or, at the least, talk to you? But I haven't, have I? You seem to think you know me – but you don't. You know _nothing_ about me: you _never_ have," she ranted.

At this point we were extremely close. In her little tirade I don't think she realized how close she had actually gotten to me. She was out of breath and now breathing deeply – she hadn't held back anything and let me have it. She was flushed from speaking so quickly. I loved it when she was like this; after we bickered or argued, she always got so into it. I always thought she looked her best then because she was allowing me to see her true self, not the composed Bella everyone else got to see – she wasn't afraid to be herself and, vehemently, express her opinions around me. All I wanted to do right now was kiss her and erase everything she had just said. What she said hurt, but I knew that I had driven her to this point and this was what I had wanted. She was being herself and not the fucking robot she'd been the last couple of days, concealing who she was and just retreating.

It wasn't the right time, though, to make any moves of that sort. Besides, if I moved in to kiss her, she might just punch me out. She was too riled up and we weren't in the right place where she would chalk this up to being a fight that could simply be erased with a kiss. I had to keep pushing her - if I pushed, she would eventually tell me what had caused all of this and then we could discuss reasonably what happened and move past it. She could forgive and understand why I had caused this argument if she knew that my end result was just to get her to open up to me. So I prodded her more, justifying to myself that this was what was needed to get her to open up. We were both at our emotional breaking points, though, hopefully neither of us would take it too far.

"I know nothing about you, huh?" I said, moving a little closer. "I know enough about you that I know all of this is a facade and that you are trying your best to keep up appearances but it's just not working. If you really didn't care, you wouldn't be putting on such a show and maybe you'd take your sunglasses off a bit more. You think I didn't notice that? Scared that people will see what an empty shell you've really become? Or are you just scared that I'll notice this, since everyone else seems to think you are fine. You might be able to hide how you're feeling from everyone else, but regardless of what you think, I know you a little bit better than what you might want to admit. You might be able to fool everybody else, but you aren't fooling me. You're upset. Well, I'm upset too. You're hurt - big fucking deal, get over it. I'm hurting as well, but you don't see me taking out my issues on other people of sulking in the corner. People either talk about their problems or they move on. So either grow up and face your problems like everyone else or shut the hell up about them," I told her.

I know I had gone a little far with this one, but now I was the one not holding back. I didn't want it to come out this way, but I couldn't stop myself. I wanted to get these things off my chest, but this was not the way that I wanted them to come out, but I was too angry. No, it wasn't anger, it was hurt. As I told her, I was hurting too, but that just didn't seem to matter to her. I was upset that she wouldn't talk to me and tell me what was going on. I was upset that she didn't trust my feelings for her enough to let me in. I was upset with her; I was upset with myself. I was just upset. My plan had worked, I had gotten Bella to be herself again, but I hadn't accounted the fact that I was going to get this emotional and worked up either. By trying to get her to open up to me, I was opening up to her whether she knew that or not.

"I heard everything you just said; you don't care, this isn't for me...blah, blah, blah. But I also heard what you let slip out, that you don't want to think of me either - which means that everything else you just said was bs. You don't want to think of me…why exactly is that then, _huh_? If I really didn't matter to you, I shouldn't even be a blip on your radar. Whatever you think happened is in the past, either move forward from it and stop wasting my time with all the _non-games_ you are supposedly not playing, or talk about it like a big girl. I'm done coddling you and so is everyone else - just grow the fuck up. This isn't all about you – other people are involved as well. Do you think you can handle that - cause I'm really sick and tired of your bullshit," I concluded.

I didn't even know I had that much to say or that I was that worked up about all of this. I was really getting upset over this; I needed to take a couple deep breaths and remind myself the reason I was doing all of this. I was frustrated and upset, but I didn't need to take it out on Bella. All of this was to get her to open up to me, not to retreat and clam up even more. I could only hope that this worked and that I hadn't pushed her further away.

I waited for her response. She was calm but, again, her eyes gave her away. The fire that had been there moments before had now been extinguished and the emptiness was back. I searched her eyes, trying to find the answer there. She looked down, shielding herself from me - she knew that I was trying to get a read her and how she was feeling. When she finally looked up, there was no longer emptiness; there was just sadness and an overall defeated look in her eyes. She started welling up.

This was not what I intended, not at all. I didn't want her to close up more and I definitely didn't want her to cry. She took a couple breaths, trying to compose herself. I made all of this worse; I had been too hard on her. I needed to fix this. What the fuck was wrong with me? Did everything I do and touch just turn to crap - what the fuck? I was just trying to help and I ended up hurting her more.

I felt my eyes welling up as well now – they were stinging in fact. What had I done? Had I just pushed her away even more? I needed to tell her everything, just lay everything out on the line and explain to her what I had done. That I hadn't meant anything I said. I just wanted things to be right and wanted to be with her, which was why I said all those things to her – they were just to get us to open up and talk again. I didn't think that was too much to ask for. I knew things were spiraling out of control and if I didn't get them in check very soon things would be ruined.

I reached up with my hand and tilted her chin up so that she could look at me and see that I really meant what I was about to say to her. When our eyes met, I thought I felt something – that she was letting me in again and knew I was being sincere. "Bella, I'm so sorry..." I pleaded with her softy as my voice trembled. I was beginning my apology, but was interrupted as the door opened.

"Bells, you ready?" Jacob asked, coming through the door grabbing her stuff for her and extending his hand for her to take.

She pulled back immediately and we both looked down to the ground trying to compose ourselves. When we both managed to look back at each other, I saw that she had retreated back into her empty shell. She nodded, got up, and took his hand. She almost looked relieved and happy to see him.

_Wait_ - she took his hand willingly?? What the fuck?

"Yea, let's go. Thanks for coming so soon - I'm glad you could be here tonight," she told him, with a tight, fake smile, refusing to look at me.

"Anything for you, babe. As soon as I got your call I was on the next flight out," he told her, as he held open the door so she could leave.

"Catch you next time, Cullen," he said with a wink to me, before he left.

**sorry to leave it like this...i know, i know, its kinda an angsty chapter, but things are going to get resolved...**

**what did you think? let me know. love your feedback! ;) the next chapter's going to be the lip syncing contest, so it should be a little more fun.**

**also, this chapter had an on going theme song, which also is posted on my profile, the avett brothers' the ballad of love and hate**

**i hope everyone has a great weekend. if your celebrating easter, then happy easter. if your celebrating passover, happy passover. :)**


	31. Speechless

**first off, i'm soooo sorry you guys for the long delay in posting times. i just started a new job, which has been kicking my ass - so its taken a lot out of me. but i'm finally done withteh chappie and its a long one.**

**second a huge thank you for everyone who's posted, pmed, commented, and just stuck with the story. you guys are truly awesome!**

**thanks to tcg, amandacullen84, and pennylaine who've helped sooo much with the chapter. couldn't have done it without them. **

**without further balbbering on, here's the chapter, hope you guys like!**

BPOV

What the hell just happened in detention? No, no - what the hell did I just do and what was I doing right now. I think that's the more pressing matter. Why had I even called Jacob? Now, he probably thought that I wanted to be with him or whatever his crazy ass would come up with – and that was the last thing I wanted. I didn't want to be with him, fuck that; I didn't even want to be within a 100 foot radius of him. But I was the genius who came up with the idea to bring him out – I couldn't blame anyone except myself. Well... there was _one_ person I could blame this on.

Jacob being here was only going to further complicate matters but I knew this had to be done if I wanted matters clarified and to get my questions answered. If there was any way that I could have managed to get all the information I wanted out of Jacob without actually having to be around him, I would have done that, but that wasn't a possibility. There were reasons that I wanted Jacob here, aside from just pissing off the other one.

Having Jacob come out here had not been part of the plan Mike concocted for me to get over Ed…_him_; that was my _brilliant_ idea. I thought that if I could finally see how the two of them interacted, when I was around, I would finally be able to figure out if _his_ feelings had been real and if he actually cared. Or if everything had just been a game: a grand pissing match between the two. I wanted to believe that the feelings were real, but I really didn't know.

I thought that I was slowly progressing, doing a little better every day and becoming myself again, but clearly, if I was still not able to say his name without some emotional breakdown ensuing afterwards, that was obviously a sign that I wasn't better – I was far from it. Everything that _he_ said in detention had cut - straight to the heart. It didn't help matters that everything he said was true: I _was _just putting on an act for his benefit and trying to cover up the fact that I wasn't myself anymore. It wasn't like I hadn't tried to move on; I gave it my all to try move on and be over him. I mean it had been a week and it usually only took me a day or some to move on from other relationships. I guess my best just wasn't enough. No, that was a lie, this wasn't my best, but I physically and emotionally couldn't give anymore than I was already giving – it just hurt too much. As much as I wanted to take on the persona of who Mikey dressed me up to be, I just wasn't. I was broken, and no matter how fabulous the outfit or killer my look was, the one person who needed to believe that I was alright, just wasn't buying it and could completely see through my act. And it killed me that he could.

So that was another reason to bring out the big guns: maybe by seeing Jacob here he'd finally believe that I'd moved on. Though, after the lecture he just gave me in detention, it seemed like he was the one who had moved on. It was clear that he was done fighting for us – or in his words "he was done dealing with my bullshit." This was what finally pushed me over the edge and I realized what had actually happened – he was just done. He was through fighting. He was done trying to figure out what happened. He was just done with me in general. If it wasn't abundantly clear last Saturday on _date_ night, it was clear now: he didn't want me anymore. I didn't know which hurt more: when I saw Victoria half naked in his room only wearing his shirt or finally realizing that he wanted nothing more to do with me. But then, what the hell was with all the remorse right before Jacob walked in; when he actually seemed apologetic and got all emotional? Could it be that he did actually care? I was thoroughly confused - I didn't know what to make of him anymore.

Again, this brought me back to Jacob being here and that maybe he would be able to clarify things. Still, to call Jacob and have him come here - I must have really lost my mind. I had even agreed to the date… like I said, I lost my freakin mind!

Alice came rushing down the hall, but stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she saw Jacob. I had told no one that he was coming, so it was going to be a very large surprise for all of them.

"What are _you_ doing here?! Get the fuck out," Alice sneered at him, her long blonde bangs getting in the way of her glare.

"A pleasure as always," Jacob replied to her with a cocky grin, holding my hand tighter and pulling me a little closer to him.

I knew I hadn't been myself and that I _may have_ kinda lost it, but this was enough. I wasn't about to play the happy couple when we weren't. I yanked my hand away, finally waking up a little to what was going on. I might not be myself, but I sure as hell wasn't moronic enough to get back into my old routine with Jacob. Calling him didn't count since there was a reason for calling I rationalized. Point LA, wouldn't have lost my freakin mind there because none of this would be happening there. There would be no Jacob and none of the other one, just sunshine and daisies…

"Alice?" I heard Emmett call out, before actually seeing him.

This was not going to be good. Even when things were good between Jacob and I, he and Em never really got along. So this was going to be treading on some very, _very_, thin ice.

As soon as he turned the corner into the hallway Emmett looked like he was about to completely lose it. "Get out! Seriously, get the fuck away from Bella," he yelled, barreling down the hallway towards us and then eventually geting up in Jacob's face.

"Why don't you make me, McCarty?" Jacob responded calmly, moving closer to Emmett and staring him down.

I knew it wouldn't take much for Em to throw a swing so I tried to intervene, stepping between the two of them. I knew Em could most definitely take Jacob, but I didn't want anything to happen to Emmett, scholastically. With everything that had happened earlier today, Mr. Torrence was on the warpath, and I didn't want Emmett to get suspended for alleged fighting.

"You want me to make you?" Emmett chuckled, with a smile growing and moving closer to Jacob, "my pleasure; you have _no idea_ how long I've been waiting for this."

I tried pushing Emmett back, to try to get him as far away from Jacob as I could, but with his adrenaline going, my weak little arms had nothing on the towering behemoth in front of me. Both Em and Jacob started moving closer to each other, trying to get the other one to initiate the first move. They were spurring each other on, making comments about each other. I couldn't exactly hear what they were saying since I was desperately trying to put some space between the two of them and could only focus on one daunting task at a time. It was difficult to separate them at all, let alone move them to different corners of the room, which was my intent. Both moved closer towards each other, and hence me, since I was smack in the middle. My general lack of upper body strength, coupled with the fact that each of them had about 100 pounds on me and could use me as a bench-press, meant my attempts were futile; I was just trying to keep from getting smushed. Emmett and Jacob had gotten so into it that they totally forgot that I was even there and kept moving closer to eachother.

Suddenly, a familiar arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me away from their fray, placing me, protectively, behind him. "Stop," Edward said, intervening and, successfully, pushing the two of them away from each other. "Em, just calm down and walk away. I've got this," he told him, though to me it sounded much more like an order.

Emmett took a few steps back and abided by _his_ wishes, though, still simmering in the corner ready to pounce on Jacob at any minute.

_He_ stared at Jacob trying to figure out what his next move would be. Jacob looked agitated, possibly still looking for a fight at any moment. Ed…_he_ kept me behind him; it seemed like he wanted to play it safe. Incase anything with Jacob was going to go down; he wanted to keep me sheltered and away from it. Jacob made a move to the right, to try to get around him and get to me, but _he_ anticipated this and moved along with him, keeping himself as a buffer between Jacob and me.

Why was he still in between Jacob and me? Again, this only left me even more confused. It seemed like he was protecting me from Jacob – I mean he was the only one who seemed to care about my safety, at all, between Jacob and Em's little scuffle. He seemed to be the only one who even remembered that I was there.

"Why don't you just let her decide who she wants to go to," Jacob smugly suggested, "or does she need to have bodyguards around her all the time," he concluded, flashing a look towards Emmett.

Emmett was sneering at him but stayed where he was; he was letting Ed…Edward take the lead.

I let his name slip out – it was too hard trying to make myself _not_ say his name. I wasn't sure how I would respond to this, though, and waited for my imminent breakdown to occur. I braced myself for it even, but nothing happened. I mentioned the name and nothing happened – maybe I could think his name?

Edward, Edward, Edward.

Again, I waited to see if the heartache I was anticipating came, but it never did. I was in the clear; I could think his name without falling on the floor and turning into a weeping mess. Maybe I was moving on and getting better?

Edward finally moved from in front of me. "I'd be more than happy to let her do whatever she wants to do. I was merely helping out when it seemed as if you hadn't even given her a second thought when you put her in the middle of your and Emmett's fight, clearly, not caring if she was going to get hurt or not. If she had caught a punch, would you have been concerned then?" Edward replied back.

"I wouldn't have punched her," Jacob almost growled at him; clearly, Edward had hit a nerve.

I scoffed at this, rather loudly, and shot Jacob a look. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that Jacob would hit me. He saw this and looked down – we both knew what I was referring to.

"If it was me and I supposedly cared about the person who I had put in a possibly dangerous situation, I would try to get them away from it. But that's just me, maybe I'm an anomaly in this type of situation…" he commented.

"Cullen, here's a piece of advice: stay out of things you know nothing about," he shot at him. "Bella, come on, let's go," Jacob told me.

I needed some time away from everybody; I just needed some time by myself. "Actually, I've got to get ready for the show. You can go and take a seat or do whatever it is that you want to do," I told him, walking away from everyone and towards the dressing room.

Rosalie saw me walking and signaled for me to come in. "Where the hell have you been? You need to get ready," she lectured.

I walked past her and sat on the couch. "Not now okay. Just give me like ten minutes," I told her.

"Bells, I'd love to, but were going on soon and you need to get ready. This was your idea…" Rose began.

No, it wasn't my idea, it was Mike and James'; they thought a Lady Gaga routine was going to be killer, so I just went along with it and endured the practices – just like I had the entire rest of the week with all their other plans they concocted. Did I want to do this: no, but I went along with it because it was all part of the grand plan of getting 'Bella back to normal.' All I wanted to do was just crawl into bed and sleep – to hide from the world and some other particular individuals. I had made this into a bigger mess than was really necessary.

"Bells?" Rose called out, a little more concerned this time.

"Give her a minute," Edward commented, barging into the room.

Crap. What, do people not understand that I just want to be alone right now?

"I'll be outside if you need me," Rose told me and left the room, shutting the door behind her.

"No you can stay," I told her, but she left anyway.

"Can we just talk for a minute?" Edward asked.

I didn't even bother looking up at him; he was going to do whatever he wanted anyway – just like he always did. If he was going to yammer on, I might as well start getting ready. That would at least semi distract me from what he was saying.

He waited for a response but when I never responded he just started talking. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay - that you weren't hurt," he stated, but sounded as if there was something more to it; that there was more he wanted to say.

Really? He was asking me is I was hurt? Ha - physically, maybe not...

I had held it together when everyone else was around, but now it was just the two of us. I needed to put on a brave face, or to at least try; I wasn't about to let him see how much his words had actually got to me earlier. I tried to compose myself before I turned around to face him, but that just wasn't happening. So, instead, I kept my back to him and attempted to steady my voice while I nodded my head. "Yup, I'm great. Is that all?" I asked, abruptly.

The shorter my sentences, the harder it would be for him to see that I really wasn't okay. I heard him take a few steps closer to me and then stop. I wanted to turn around and see what he was doing, but I wasn't sure if I was composed enough to do this yet. I took a couple deeper, calming, breaths while he seemed to think of what he would say next.

But right now, I didn't want to hear what he had to say. Whatever it was, it most likely wasn't good and I didn't need to hear that, especially when I was supposed to be "performing" with the half hour.

I finally turned and faced him. There was a pained look to his face and his eyes seemed to now give _him_ away: he looked upset and sad, but mostly defeated. Why did he have that defeated look? I guess he now really did think that I had moved on. This must be what payback looks like, but I wasn't feeling good about this at all.

He was the one who had started this whole thing; there shouldn't be any reason for me to feel bad over this. That didn't change the fact that I did. Just looking at Edward made me fell even worse about bringing Jacob here. I knew this was going to be a low blow for him and I thought that was what I wanted, but now seeing him like this... Well, I just couldn't take it. I shouldn't have gone to _this_ level. Bring Jacob here was supposed to make me feel better over this whole thing, but it made me feel worse, like a terrible person.

"You know, I've got to get ready for the contest. I'll see you later," I told him, tying to keep my voice from trembling and walking into the bathroom.

"Bella, come out and we can talk," he called out from the other side of the door.

"Ed… Edward just go," I told him, shakily as I made sure the door knob was locked and he couldn't come in.

I had said his name out loud and that was clearly a problem. As soon as I uttered it, I had unleashed the flood gates of emotion. I knew the emotional breakdown, I had anticipated earlier, was happening now – maybe it just had a delayed effect?

I felt my eyes welling up but I wasn't about to start crying while he was still in the room and within earshot. If I really didn't want to deal with him right now, which I didn't, tears _could not_ happen; I needed to stay strong. I knew there was only a matter of time before the tears were going to come out, but he needed to be gone before that happened. The welled up tears started burning my eyes as I slowly sunk down to the floor of the girl's lounge. How was I supposed to carry on with this stupid fucking contest when I was clearly a complete mess? I waited for the door to click, signifying that he had gone. It took a couple minutes, which seemed like hours, but that click I was searching for finally came. As soon as he was gone, the waterworks came. There was no way for me to stop them. I had thought that I was done with the tears, given I had a three day hiatus from them. Clearly, they were just waiting until the perfect moment to be released; they needed the proper prompting.

Even though he had hurt me, I couldn't stand the betrayed and hurt look on his face when he saw Jacob take my hand in the classroom. And the look he just had now - it killed me even more; like the bandages that had been placed on my heart and were starting to help it mend were just ripped off and left my wound gaping open. Maybe his feeling were real - that this hadn't all been a game to him, but that still didn't change the fact that he slept with someone else. If his feeling were true, that would only made things worse. If this were just a game, I could have dealt with this betrayal, because he was just acting – the best fucking actor I've ever seen. But if he truly cared, how could he have done this to me? How could he have just tossed aside someone he cared about and wounded them this deeply? That was unforgivable.

I heard the doorknob jiggle back and forth while voices came from the other side of the door. "Bella, are you okay?" Alice asked. "Open the door babe."

I didn't answer and continued wallowing in my own misery. I couldn't face them now; I just wanted to be alone. I wanted to stay in the safety of this bathroom where I could just cry and be my hurt and broken self. I knew I was pushing away the people who cared about me, but that didn't matter. The person who supposedly cared about me did it; why couldn't I do it to others too.

"Come on, open up we're not leaving," Rosalie tried this time.

"Who's out there?" I asked quietly through another sob; I wasn't about to open up if _everyone_ was out there.

"It's just me, Alice and Rose," Mike answered.

I tried composing myself – they didn't need to see the full extent of how crappy I felt. After I had somewhat calmed down, I reached my hand up and groped the door, looking for the door knob to unlock. They all rushed into the bathroom as soon as they heard the click on the lock.

"What happened?" they all began asking at the same time.

I sniffled and took a deep breath at the same time. "Nothing happened," I mumbled quickly in between tears, "I don't want to talk about it."

They looked between each other trying to see what their next move should be. All looked hesitant to say or do anything, not wanting to set me off again. They knew I wasn't just going to talk and open up about all of this.

"Well, here's some water, why don't you take a sip and just relax for a second," Alice suggested.

"Do you still want to go on?" Rose asked. "You know you don't have to."

Both Mike and Alice shot Rose a look as if to say "of course she's not going on, dumb ass".

I took my sip of water, slowly letting the water trickle down my burning throat - which must have been another side effect of holding back my tears for too long. I thought about it for a minute as I tried to compose myself more. I truly didn't want to go on, but if I backed out now, Jacob would know his being here affected my and Edward's relationship and I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of that. The show had to go on for the mere fact that I would not let Jacob think that he had any sort of hold over me or my emotions. I nodded my head, as I sobered up even more with this Jacob realization, signaling that I planned on going on with the show. If I just went along with everything as planned, like all of this was routine and mundane, things would be easier that way and no one would get the wrong impression.

"Are you sure Bells?" Mike asked, surprised by my reaction.

"Yes, I'm positive. If I dropped out now, this would be turned into a bigger ordeal than it already has become. I'm just going to go with what we've got planned," I explained, alluding me bringing Jacob out.

Again, the three of them exchanged looks. They did not seem happy with my decision.

"Are you _really_ sure?" Rose pressed some more.

I just nodded my head resolutely.

"Okay… well then let's get you ready. We're supposed to be going on in 10 but I can probably switch with Tanya's group and we can go later if you want," Alice suggested.

"No, its fine. We'll go when we are supposed to and that'll be that. 10 minutes should be fine..." I said, before I looked in the mirror and noticed a good majority of my makeup had smeared. "Or maybe not..."

"You'll be fine. I've got your makeup covered and your hair's fine with some minor adjustments. All you need to do is change into your outfit and put in some eyedrops and you'll be good to go," Rose commented.

She and Alice got up and started to get my things ready while I took another moment on the floor with Mike. He was rubbing my back and still trying to calm me down.

"I appreciate all you've done and I know you suggested all this out of love and everything, but I think this was all just a bad idea," I told him quietly, still tearing up a little but far less than before.

"Well, a big portion of this bad idea was your surprise visitor. I never told you to bring _him_ out here - that's just going to cause even more problems…unless that's what you wanted," Mike replied, with a small laugh trying to ease the mood.

I sunk my head down lower, knowing that he was completely right. It _was_ my fault that things were worse; I didn't need to be reminded of that.

"Bells, I was just trying to lighten the mood. I didn't mean that," he told me.

I gave him a knowing look as I finally got up.

"Okay, maybe I did mean that, a little, but it wasn't supposed to come out so negative. I mean, maybe him being out here will be useful, so that you can figure out how you really feel about that jackass…" he said under his breath. "Or maybe this will cause Edward to get off his ass and fight for you," he concluded, even more under his breath.

"I heard that," I told him walking over to the vanity and plopped in the chair to get all Beyoncified.

"You were supposed to…" he called out as put my outfit together.

"Whatever," I muttered under my breath.

"Okay, if we're going to get you ready with basically no time, you're going to need to stop fidgeting. Understand?" Alice told me.

I adjusted myself one more time, nodded my head, and then held still to let she and Rosalie work their magic. If they could make me at least look presentable that would be a miracle. It wasn't that I looked like a train wreck or anything, but I just looked…off. It looked like something was bothering me and I didn't want that to be the case. I just needed to suck it up for the next half hour and put on a happy face. I _could _do this – besides, I had always liked the lip syncing contest and it was my last year to be a part of it. I shouldn't sit here moping around like someone killed my puppy: there would be plenty of time for that later.

"Is there anything to drink?" I asked them.

"There's a bottle of water over there. Do you want me to grab it for you?" Rose asked.

"No, I don't want _that_ type of drink. Is there anything else?" I asked, as I smiled widely so Alice could apply the blush to the right part of my cheek.

"I don't think that's the best idea," Alice answered, concerned.

"I don't care if it's a good idea or not – I know what _I_ need right now to take the edge off and to be able to go out on that stage. If I'm going to go out there, I want to relax a little," I told her.

She stopped working on me and put the brush down. "Well, if that's the case, then let's just not go out there period. I'm not about to indulge you in any risky behavior so that you can feel better; your wellbeing is more important than that. I'd rather forfeit the contest than do something that's harmful. I know I'm usually the first one to suggest alcohol as the cure to all problems but not this time: this time it is _not_ the answer Bella," Alice stated solemnly.

I looked over at Rosalie who had the same look of concern on her face. Alice hadn't said that to be spiteful, but to show that she was actually concerned about me. I knew they were going to let certain things slide because of everything that was going on, but I guess they were drawing the line at this – which I didn't really understand.

Did they think that I had been drowning my sorrows away with a bottle? Clearly, they were misinformed because I hadn't had anything to drink in over a week. I barely had motivation to get up and shower; they thought I had the capacity to sit there and drink alone? Then again, they didn't really know how I was acting, I hadn't let anyone in. If I was in their position and had seen my behavior over the past week, I would probably think the worst as well.

I reached for both of their hands, placing mine on top of theirs. "You guys I'm fine," I stated, as they looked at me like they weren't buying anything I was telling them. "Okay, maybe I'm not fine but I haven't been on a drunken bender or anything either. I've been working things out on my own, which I know make it hard to see where I'm coming from. I'm just going through some things which will pass in time. I know you guys are just trying to help and I appreciate that," I told them warmly.

"Bella, do you want to talk…" Rose began.

"We've got a show to do," I said, cutting her off, "and I want you guys to look as fabulous as you've made me."

I was glad they were still trying and wanted to be there for me, but I still wasn't ready to really let them in and tell them what's been going on. They took the hint and went back to getting ready. Alice put the finishing touches on my makeup as Rose went to start putting on her outfit.

"Girls are you ready?" James asked, knocking on the door. "They said you have two minutes."

"Almost babe," Mike called out. "Okay, you two finish up and I'll get her all dressed," he said, turning his attention back to us.

"Do you want help?' James asked, now inside the dressing room.

"Why don't you help the other two, because Alice keeps playing with her new long, blonde, locks and keeps messing with her weave," he said with a laugh.

"Hey!" Alice called out.

"I'm on it," James answered, rushing over to help her.

"So what exactly am I going to be wearing?" I asked, a little uncertain of what he picked out.

"It's a spin on Beyonce's outfit from the video: there's the blue military jacket with the embellishments, the jean cutoff shorts, and underneath there's the American flag cropped t-shirt. Then you've got the white jacket and tulle skirt to put on before the last song. How does that sound?" he asked.

I nodded my head. "Sounds perfect," I answered him. "And the video's all set to go; the dancers?" I asked.

"Everything is perfect," James answered. "All you guys have to do is go out there and wow them."

Mike finished putting on my outfit and afterwards I couldn't help but feel a little better – I mean god damn, I _did_ look like Beyonce, just a lot paler. I couldn't believe James pulled this outfit out. I knew he was good, I just didn't know he was _this_ good. He had found the majority of the pieces and added the finishing touches to them. Not only did our outfits look like they were from the actual videos; I think they looked even better. Screw being a stylist, with his talent James should really consider becoming a designer.

I looked over at Alice and Rose who were just about done as well. Alice looked angelic: decked out in a white leotard with a white leather jacket, white denim short, lavender 5 inch high booties, and white Kanye West type sunglasses. The long platinum blonde wig she wore, coupled with the purple pastel make-up completed the outfit. The long hair was a drastic change on Alice; in fact in all the time I'd known Alice, I'd never known her to have long hair. Her short do suited her to a T but there was something about the long hair that seemed to work as well…or maybe it was just all the blonde. Either way she was rocking this look.

Rose, on the other hand, just looked bad ass. She was wearing a black, completely studded, slightly oversized, leather motorcycle jacket, a yellow caution tape skirt mini James had fashioned, a stars and stripe American flag themed cropped halter top, and silver knee high boots. Her hair was in a loose pin curl and off to the side with some dramatic makeup. She looked amazing, but then again, Rose always did.

"That doesn't really fit with Bella's outfit," Mike commented to James.

Rose's eyes widened – this comment threw her for a loop. She started checking herself frantically in the mirror to see what he was talking about.

James caught her hand before she did anything to ruin his masterpiece. "Oh, ye of little faith, I've got it completely covered. When Miss B over there goes out and does her _thang_, Rose is going to slip out of the skirt and I'm going to put the bandana in her hair. They will look perfect together," he told us, lifting Rose's skirt in the process to show us her very patriotic, and tight, shorts she was wearing underneath.

She looked down at herself and let out a sigh of relief. Did she really forget that she was wearing shorts underneath her skirt? Typical – she did like to go commando quite often but I still couldn't understand how you could forget if you were wearing something underneath. I silently laughed at this.

"Alright, my job is done ladies. I've gotta go add the finishing touches to my outfit, but then I'll be out there to cheer you on. I know I'm in the boys' thing, but I'm totally rooting for you instead. Don't tell them that though!" James exclaimed, giving us each a hug, giving me an additional squeeze of support, before heading out the door.

Everyone, now, turned and looked at me.

"Thought I'd check one more time, are you positive you want to do this?" Alice asked, one last time.

"We can still cancel. It will be enough for me to go out there and just have them see the outfit," Rosalie added on.

Mike didn't contribute anything to their question, but the look he was giving me said enough. They all wanted to be sure that I was okay with this and that I didn't feel pressured by them to do this. I loved them for being so concerned about me, but I was good to go – at least for the time being. I was doing this for me and nobody else… well, maybe that wasn't entirely true, but I was at least doing some of this for me and that was fine in my book.

"I'm positive; let's just go out there and do this," I told them, feigning as much enthusiasm as I could.

I did _want_ to do this, I just didn't know _if_ I could. I sure as hell was going to try though.

"Alright, let's rock this bitch," Rose yelled.

All of us looked at her. We knew she got excited over things like this, but that just wasn't her.

She shrugged and laughed. "Was that a little much?"

We nodded our heads as we walked out the door while laughing. Mike left to go coordinate with the dancers and the video people, doing a double check that everything was a go. We checked in and took our places next to the stage, watching Jessica and her band of little clones do their best Pussycat Doll impression. Not that I'm an expert on lip syncing or anything but your mouth _is_ supposed to move – that is the whole point. All they were doing was dancing in their skimpy outfits around the stage. At least they were warming up the crowd for us.

And then it hit me: there was a crowd. In all of the craziness just now and earlier in the week, I had completely forgotten about that _minor_ fact. I stuck my head out a little from behind the curtain to see exactly how many people were there; it was just the entire school, no biggie…

What the fuck was I going to do? I hated being in front of a lot of people, let alone _perform_ in front of them. In practice I had been okay with the dance moves because no one was around, but now there was a _very_ large audience in front of me. I wasn't even that coordinated and they wanted me to do a whole dance number? I could not do this! I thought I was okay with this, but now seeing the audience, I definitely was not. I had to go.

Alice and Rosalie both grabbed an arm and held me in place. They must have seen my terror stricken eyes and figured I finally comprehended that people were going to be watching us. That must have been the other reason they kept asking to see if I wanted to go through with this.

"Guys, I dunno…" I started saying.

"You're going to be fine. You've been perfect in rehearsals. Just take a few calming breathes. Say ohm with me… OHMMMM," Alice stated, trying to calm me down.

I looked at her like she had lost her mind – this was not the time for some bullshit, yoga, zen crap. If they wanted to calm me down, saying ohm was definitely not the way to go.

Rosalie looked at Alice like she had a third eye when she started meditating. "Why don't we go get some water and let Guru Alice over here center her freaking chi," Rose said, pulling me over to the bottles of water. "Drink this," she ordered.

I did as I was instructed and drank the water but that didn't seem to help. She noticed that and just signaled for me to keep drinking.

"Can I talk to her for a sec," Jacob asked, coming out of nowhere, causing me to choke on the water I was drinking.

"No douchebag, you may not. Now fuck off," Rosalie told him.

"Listen Blondie, I just want to talk to her for a minute_, alone_. You can even watch if you'd like, but I would like to talk to her without her bodyguards, so beat it," Jacob replied back to her.

"Listen, you…" Rose growled.

Actually, talking to Jacob might be a good distraction, so I decided to go with it. "Rose, it's fine; I'll talk to him. He said it'll just be a minute anyway," I stated.

I saw Jacob's mouth twist into a victorious grin as Rose walked away.

"What do you want," I asked him, slightly irritated.

"I just wanted to see how you were. I know how you and crowds can be," he explained.

Well that was unexpected – nice even. What was he up to?

"I'm alright," I told him, weary of what his ulterior motives where.

"Liar," he said with a laugh. "Take this, it'll take the edge off and calm you down," he directed, as he held out a little flask.

I looked down at the flask skeptically. I wasn't sure if I should really take anything that he was offering.

"Come on, I'm just trying to help – and I promise that it will," he said with a small smile.

I weighed the possibility a little more. What harm could this really do – it wasn't like I had never had a drink before? This wasn't like earlier when I wanted a drink; I just needed some liquid courage because there were too many fucking people out there. I heard the cheers from the audience, though, signifying that Jessica's group was done so there really wasn't that much time to weigh the pros and cons of accepting the drink. I looked him in the eye trying to see if there was any other motive behind his offer, but I couldn't tell. What the hell, I grabbed the flask and took three large gulps before giving it back.

I felt the alcohol immediately go to my head and felt, instantly, more at ease. I smiled at him for the assistance that he had just provided me with. He smiled back at me. "Break a leg. I know you'll do great," he told me, squeezing my hand and kissing me on the cheek, before he left the backstage area.

"Bella, come on! We're about to start!" Alice yelled as she prepared to go onstage.

I walked over to them feeling more confident and less nervous about the whole situation. Whoever said alcohol didn't help in times of stress wasn't drinking enough.

"Did everything go okay? He seemed like he was behaving himself, but I couldn't really see what was going on between the two of you over there, it was too dark," Rosalie asked.

"Everything was fine Rose. He just wanted to see if I was okay with all these people; you all know how well I do in front of crowds," I told her.

"You'll be fine. We're going to be amazing," Alice stated, slightly talking to me but more to herself. She was already in her 'superstar' mentality and was ready for the limelight - this was her time to shine.

"Real sensitive Alice," Rose muttered.

"Huh?" Alice said, snapping back to the conversation and stopped waving at the crowd.

"Don't worry about it – go have you moment," I told her with a laugh as I pushed her onstage.

I always found it entertaining when Alice took center stage. She was usually a very caring, sensitive and attentive friend, but when any sort of notoriety could be attained, all that friendship talk went out the window and it was all about her.

"And our next act is Alice Brandon, Rosalie Hale and Bella Swan. Let's hear it for them," Mr. Davidson said through the microphone and then left the stage.

This was it. All the lights went out, the smoke machine turned on and the jumbo screen in the back of the stage turned on and started to play the video. The opening lines of the song came on as the Alice walked onto the stage.

_Let's have some fun, this beat is sick. I wanna take a ride on your disco stick. Hey!_

Once the musical interlude came on, so did some of the strobe lights and Alice's scepter which seemed to glow on the dark stage. All you could really see on the stage were the flash of white from her outfit, some sort of movement and, of course, wherever the light hit. When the first verse came on so did Alice's spotlight. She finally came into view with our black, leather-clad backup dancers and officially began her performance. The back monitor played the real LoveGame music video that was edited to cut back in forth between Alice dressed and moving exactly like Lady Gaga to the actual video. Her moves, in person and in the video, were perfectly timed with the lyrics and beat of the music. She played with her lit scepter and danced alongside the dancers with as much ease as Gaga did on screen. She was thriving in her element and it looked like the crowd was really enjoying it. Too bad Alice couldn't really sing, because she would make an excellent performer.

I heard some whispers coming from behind us. I glanced back to tell them to shut up but noticed that it was Emmett, Jasper and Edward, so I kept my mouth shut. My eyes briefly met with Edward's but I immediately looked away – I had enough problems going out there in front of hundreds of people and prancing around onstage, I didn't need to add him to the mix. My anxiety over performing had trumped any stress and emotional overload that I was dealing with, with him. I did turn to look briefly at Jasper's reaction, though: he looked in complete awe of Alice.

I scooted towards him. "She looks amazing right?" I said, cheerfully.

He nodded. "There are no words," he began to say.

"You can thank James for that," I said with a laugh.

"I'll be sure to send a muffin basket," he joked and moved closer to the stage to get a better look at Alice.

The rest of us took a cue from Jasper and moved closer to the curtain as well to cheer Alice on from backstage. Rose and I both, loudly, cheered for her; thank god we weren't actually singing because I definitely strained my voice cheering her on. She noticed us cheering from behind the stage and flashed us a quick wink as she took off her sunglasses and threw them to the crowd before launching into the chorus.

_Let's play a love game, play a love game. Do you want love or you want fame?_

_Are you in the game? Doin' the love game_

On the second round of the chorus, she glanced again over at us, but this time was looking at one person specifically. I looked to my left and right, but it was neither Jasper nor Rosalie, so they had to be behind us. I glanced over my shoulder my shoulder quickly to see that Emmett was dancing along to Alice's performance so it had to be the _other_ one. From the brief moment that I saw he looked somewhat stoic, as if he was trying to figure out why Alice chosen this particular moment to look at him.

"Who came up with this set?" I heard him ask.

"Bella did, with my assistance," James answered him.

James? Where the hell did he come from – I swear he wasn't there a moment ago.

Alice continued on with her set, as she went into full choreography mode. There was one more line and then came her favorite part of the song, where she got to show off her dance moves. As Gaga did the moves on screen, Alice did them on stage in perfect synchronization. She hit every mark that she was supposed to and with gusto. Alice was out for blood - she really wanted that stupid lip synching trophy. She even asked to have certain props wheeled in ahead of time so that all of this could be more authentic, but Mr. Davidson wouldn't allow bringing an old Cadillac or toll booth to the auditorium.

_I can see you staring there from across the block with a smile on your face and a hand on your huh!_

Alice sang as two of the dancers came and playfully covered her mouth for the last word, so as to not violate the "no obscenity" rule in the competition. Even though cock was never _actually_ mentioned in the song, she still wanted to take precautions. Alice continued with her dance routine as the song started to wind down.

It was getting closer to _my_ performance and that's when I started to get more nervous. James was making sure everything was okay with Rosalie's appearance as I silently continued to freak out. The boys were blocking any chance of an exit I could make so I just tried to relax a little more. I took some deep breaths, though, that didn't seem to help. Alice came strutting off the stage to the roar of the crowd cheering. I could tell she wanted to go back out on stage and soak up all the adoration the crowd was giving her, but stayed in character with her "I don't give a fuck" attitude. As soon as she was behind the curtain, though, the she was nothing but squeals and excitement. We all briefly congratulated her as the opening chords to the next song began and Rosalie walked out.

Rose walked out from behind the curtain and onto the stage. She sauntered gracefully across the stage, mouthing the words to the song to the dancers as she passed each of the dancers like she was singing this to them.

_Hello, Hello, baby; you called I can't hear a thing. I have got no service in the club you say, say.  
Wa-wa-what did you say? Huh? You're breaking up on me. Sorry; I cannot hear you, I'm kinda busy_

Once the beat hit, Rose's entire demeanor changed. No longer was she sweetly singing to the dancers, but was now rocking out and facing the audience. This was where all the dancing started and Rose was ready. The music video cut between Rose and Gaga dance number, just like it had during Alice's song.

As the chorus came up I knew it was getting closer to when I was supposed to get on stage. James turned me around to fix my hair one last time.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

I stared at him blankly – I was _not_ ready. It felt like the three shots I had just consumed had all but worn off.

"You'll be fine," Mikey said coming from around the corner.

What was up with everyone just popping up out of fucking nowhere!

The interlude came on with Rose and I in the getaway car; we had replaced Gaga and Beyonce with Rose and I in the car driving away and doing our own take on their Kill Bill spoof.

"_You sure you want to do this Honey B?" the Rose on screen asked me_

"_What do you mean, am I sure?" I replied back to her innocently_

"_You know what they say: once you kill the cow you have to make the burger" she pondered_

"_You know RaRa? Trust is like a mirror, you can fix it if it's broken" I told her_

"_But you can still see the crack in that mother fucker's reflection!" Rose replied, with a beep censored ourselves, obliging with the obscenity rule_

"I don't think I can do this," I told them, turning around and preparing to run.

"Oh no you don't; get your ass out there," Mike said, shoving me onto the stage.

Ah crap! There was really no going back now. I stared out to the audience that was just looking at me. They were expecting me to perform as well as the other two had, which was extraordinarily well. I had about two seconds before my part of the music was going to kick in. I could feel my face turning the brightest shade of pink that it possibly could. I needed to breathe or I was going to pass out.

I heard the first word of my verse and decided that it would be worse if I just stood there, not singing or ran off the stage; I would really look like an idiot then. So, instead, I went for it.

_The way you blowin' up my phone won't make me leave no faster_

I nervously stammered as I sauntered across the stage, trying to do my best Rosalie impersonation; maybe if I channeled her I would be able to get through this and look half-way decent. Other ideas ran through my head trying to figure out how I could finish this set and look okay. I remembered that in rehearsals when I messed around with the dancers I felt a little more comfortable, so with the next line I decided to go with that.

_Put my coat on faster, leave my girls no faster_

I sang that to one of the dancers as he reached for my jacket, as if he was trying to help me put it on, like we had practiced. Instead, I shrugged off my jacket entirely, which wasn't supposed to come off until later in the set. As I tore off my jacket the crowd cheered a little louder which I got a real kick out off. I felt my inhibitions lowered slightly – the vodka finally kicking in; it just took a little longer than anticipated. I felt more confident and comfortable with myself on stage and started to have a little fun with it.

_I should've left my phone at home cause this is a disaster_

I mouthed as I took a fake phone that was given to me and threw it out into the crowd; which, again, sent the crowd into a tizzy. The dancers, instantly, adjusted their response towards me and went with my phone tossing addition, since this was an addendum to the routine. With this, I even started rocking out a little bit to the music. This _was_ kinda fun.

_Callin' like a collector. Sorry I cannot answer!_

I grabbed the collar of one of the dancers, sang the line to him and then tossed him aside like a used piece of paper. This clearly wasn't me, but I was having fun with whoever had possessed my body. The crowd seemed to love who this person was as well. With every bitchy movement I made, the crowd ate it up even more.

Rose came strutting out in her new, patriotic, outfit and joined me on stage for the finale of this song. We stood back to back as the dancers circled round us, so that each of us had two people we were singing to. Rose mouthed the lyrics of her part of the verse.

_Not that I don't like you: I'm just at a party. And I am sick and tired of my phone ri-ringing._

Then it was my time to shine. I took a step forward toward the dancers and spouted my part.

_Sometimes I feel like I live in Grand Central Station. Tonight I'm not takin' no calls cause I'll be dancin'_

Rose and I spun around in unison and started mouthing the lyrics together. I started dancing around and just moving along with the music. Rose raised her eyebrows and looked at me like I had lost my mind – which I just might have. Of all the possible ways that I could have reacted, _this_ was probably at the very bottom of the list. I silently chuckled at Rose's expression and how taken aback she was. The music changed and now it was time for the big dance number which was how we ended the song.

Under normal circumstance, this part of the set would have had me the most worried, but now I was ready for it. No, I was actually looking forward to it. I was never one who could stick a routine and stay on beat, but for some reason this time, I hit all of my marks. As our cue to exit for out next song started, I was having such a good time that the dancers had to pull me off stage, since the next number was supposed to be my big finale.

Rose was wrapping up the song on her own as I got ready for the big finale. This was the new addition to our set that Mike had come up with – he said it was our showstopper.

"Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" Mike asked me as he added on my new wardrobe pieces for the next song.

"What are you talking about? You guys said to have a good time and have fun, so I did," I told him.

He looked at me suspiciously as he dragged me across the stage to my next position. "Sure…" was all he mustered up. "Okay, the lights will be on you as soon as Rosalie gets off stage – so be prepared. And the piano will be live – so keep that in mind. You don't have anything that complicated, but just in case you need it, give me the signal and I'll turn off the piano mike," he stated as he left me to go situate Alice and Rose.

Piano. I had completely forgotten about that. My slight buzz, as well as all my carefree and fun feelings, had gone out the window and now the only thing I could think about was Edward. He was the one who had taught me how to play the basic cords after hearing me bang on the keys one day at his house and told me I had just accosted his piano. I couldn't help but remember that day.

"_Bella, get away from the keys – you're going to ruin my ears and my piano by your god awful playing," he said, only half kidding._

"_I'll do whatever I please since this seems to be the only way I can seem to pull your attention away from your beloved, " I, too, stated half kiddingly._

_He had been working on a composition for the past week and, seriously, the only attention that I got was either when I arrived or when I left because he had to let me out of the house. I was starting to feel like that damn piano was the other woman in our relationship. I continued to pound on the keys, as crapily as I could._

_He took a seat, straddling the bench and facing me, as he held my hands still so that I could no longer play. "I'm sorry I've been so distant recently – it's just I want to get this piece down for college applications. I'm going to have to play an original work and it isn't quite right yet," he explained. "I promise I'll be better, just stop taking it out on the piano," he said with his crooked smile that he knew I couldn't resist._

_His green eyes stared at me until my expression finally softened into a smile. "Fine – as long as I get a shoutout at your audition… and afterwards you give all the OCD playing a break for a little bit. You already play perfectly, you don't have to practice anymore. Besides, you're really stifling my musical genius, which has yet to be revealed," I joked._

"_You're musical genius?" he said with an amused smirk playing across his lips. "I didn't know I was dating a piano prodigy."_

"_Well of course you didn't because you are always hogging the piano. And I feel no need to show off in front of others, unlike someone else I know," I teased with a smile._

"_Well, by all means then, show me what you've got. I wouldn't want you to feel 'stifled'," he said, suppressing a laugh as he motioned to the piano._

_I cleared my throat, loudly, and mocked the way he always sat down and go ready to play. Then I whipped out the best rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb anyone had ever heard. "Like I told you, musical genius," I told him._

"_How could I have ever doubted you," he said, giving me a gentle peck. "But, it would help if you were in tune…"_

"_Pssh, whatever. Being in tune is for pansies who play by the rules. I'm anti-establishment," I replied. _

"_Oh, okay… I just thought you might not know how to play," he teased. "You know, I could always teach you to play… if you wanted to go more mainstream, that is," he said, more seriously this time._

_I thought about his offer, but before I had time to respond he had already scooted me closer to him and was already placing my hands on the keys. "So this is a chord," he said rather enthusiastically. _

_I looked at him; he looked as excited as a little kid at Christmas. He was so pleased that he was getting to share his passion with me. Who was I to turn him down his offer? Maybe I would like piano; I did like watching him play – it was such a turn on. _

_I scooted closer, so that my back was up against his chest. We really hadn't gotten much alone time lately because of all of his practicing so I was going to milk this for all it was worth. He wrapped his arms around me so that he could more easily direct my hands where they needed to go on the piano. We were at an angle, so he shifted the bench a little so that both of us could more easily reach the keys._

"_So this is where c is," he said softly into my ear, placing my hand delicately on the c key._

_I pushed down on c and then moved onto the next key. "Let me guess, this is d?" I stated._

"_Wow, you're a fast learner," he answered back facetiously. _

_I elbowed him slightly at his comment which he responded by trying to tickle my side. I kept moving out of the way until I had somehow turned and was tickling him back. "Do you really want to learn? If so we can't be doing this," he said, in between laughs._

_I nodded at him. "Okay, back to work maestro," I told him. "So what's next?" I asked._

_He placed his head on my shoulder and moved my hands into position for a chord. "This is c major," he said into my ear again. He moved my hands into position and then I played the c major chord. _

_He showed me a variety of basic chords and somehow I had managed to learn them relatively easy. Though, I did have some incentive: with every correct chord I played I received a congratulatory kiss. But, with every chord that I mastered, it became more difficult to focus. Whenever he was around, it became hard for me to pay attention to the matter at hand, especially when we were in such close proximity. I didn't want to mess up, because I wanted those kisses, but it was inevitable because being this close to him was intoxicating and made me lose my concentration._

"_You're doing very well," he complimented me._

"_It's just because I have such an amazing teacher," I told him, tilting my head up and giving him a tender kiss._

_I was through playing piano, this is what I wanted to spend the rest of my time doing. I turned so that I was now facing him, sitting on his lap with my legs wrapped around his waist, while my hands slid into his disheveled hair. With this, all ideas of returning to piano 101 were lost and we had moved into making out 301 – because we weren't in any beginning classes here; here, we were both experts._

I snapped back to reality with this. I couldn't let myself so any further with this memory - it would have been too painful to return from. But it was already too late; this memory took me somewhere that I wanted to forget and erase from my mind completely. I felt like I was going to be sick. I didn't want to remember the good times with him because there weren't going to be anymore - which made me feel even worse. I felt like I was going to break down; I could already feel my eyes welling up and soon I wouldn't be able to hold back my tears. I needed to get off the stage, _now_. Screw what Mike said, that this would be awesome and offer me some closure; this wasn't going to do anything but make me feel even worse. If he thought this was such a great idea, he could come up and sing this himself.

As I started to get up, the curtain opened up on a completely darkened stage with the sole spotlight on me. I looked around to the side of the stage, trying to see Mike and get him to close the curtain again but he was nowhere in sight. I looked out to the audience, blankly, who were all cheering and waiting for me to start. I just stood there looking at all of them. After a little bit the cheering had died down, while I still stood there. I looked over to the side of the stage and saw James who was motioning with his hands for me to sit down – so I did. He then started wiggling his fingers…huh? I looked down in front of me, he wanted me to play. Would I be able to do that, cause it sure as hell felt like I couldn't.

I looked at my hands which were hovering over the piano keys. When the crowd saw this the cheers picked up again – they wanted the next song. I couldn't leave now, so I had to go through with it. I had already wasted more than a minute sitting there in silence; I knew I had to do something soon. I looked over at James again through watery eyes who was now opening and closing his mouth, which I didn't get until he finally started mouthing sing. I finally reached down and made contact with the keys which signaled the music to finally go on. I closed my eyes, trying to stop my tears and compose my emotions, as I whimpered the first lines of the song.

_I can't believe what you said to me, last night we were alone. You threw your hands up._

_Baby, you gave up, you gave up_

Thank god I was just lipsyncing and other music was blaring because I would have been inaudible. I was barely moving my mouth and I don't even think I was mouthing the words correctly, but it didn't matter – as long as it kind of looked like I was doing something it was alright. I tried opening my eyes and, immediately, felt a burning sensation from holding back the tears; they had to be bright red at the moment. But I kept them open and, surprisingly, no tears came out. It was only a matter of time though. I looked down at my hands, which, miraculously, were actually playing along. Who knew if they were the right notes but I was playing and that was all that mattered. I knew everyone was looking at me, but I could only feel one set of green eyes which were watching me intently. I refused to look over to the side of the curtain and meet his gaze. I forced myself to look out into the audience as I sang the last couple lines of my solo.

_Could we fix you if you broke? And is your drunk line just a joke?_

With this last line the spotlight turned off of my and now focused on Rosalie as she mouthed the chorus, which couldn't have come at a better time. With the utterance of those last words I could feel, even more, his eyes boring into me, almost willing me to meet his gaze. With the lights off in my area, though, he wouldn't be able to see me. I tilted my head down, looking at the piano but shifted my eyes up to steal a glance at his reaction. I studied him for a minute. His beautiful face looked sad, yet concerned and worried. Even in the dark his eyes were locked on me - but he couldn't see me in the dark could he? He was stiff and his posture was tense; he kept shifting his weight back and forth, one of the things he did when he was anxious. I hated that I knew that about him; I didn't want to be able to read him like this. I didn't want him to be able to have hurt me this way. I heard Alice's solo in the background:

_And I know that it's complicated, but I'm a loser in a love so baby. Raise a glass to mend all the broken hearts of all my wrecked friends_

I saw her out of the corner of my eye holding a glass up towards the audience while taking a quick peak over at me and then finally at Edward. I was her fucked up friend with the broken heart. It _was_ complicated between us and, clearly, I _was_ a loser in love… Could this song speak anymore to me directly? I finally looked away as a couple tears betrayed me and slid down my face- luckily it was still dark. The spotlight had shifted from Alice to Rose again, which meant that it was going to be back to me in no time. I took a couple deep breaths but I could feel my lip trembling. I bit down on my lip, hard, until I felt a small trickle of blood which stopped my trembling lip. Physical pain was a lot easier to cope with than emotion pain – it was so much simpler and easy to fix.

The spotlight then transferred back to me and I was on again. I needed to just finish this damn song and get off the stage before I really melted down. Slowly I felt the hold I had on my emotions slipping away.

_And after all the drinks and the bars that we've been to; would you give it all up. Could've give it all up for you. And after all the boys and the girls that we've been through, would you give it all up? Could you give it all up? If I promised, boy to you._

I couldn't help but look over at him with this last verse. I had changed for him and I had loved him and he just gave up. What more was there to say? I felt a small tear escape; luckily it came from the eye that the audience couldn't see. The lights, again, went dark on me as it turned to Alice who sang the next line. Then the spotlight was added to say another line and then it turned to me so that we were all playing together to finish out this chorus.

The spotlights, again, fell from them so that I was the only one who could be seen. This was supposed to me my song, so I was expected to finish it up. I, miraculously, had continued to play throughout this ordeal and studied my hands as they seemed to play independently from my body. I glanced to the audience and finally saw that Jacob was sitting in the front row. He wasn't cheering, but just watching. I looked at him briefly while I sang the next line.

_Some men may follow me,_

It was true; he did follow me, but was that so bad? He wanted to be with me, or whatever his demented version of being with someone was, and at least made an attempt. I tore my eyes away from him; looking at him was making me think strange thoughts. Was Jacob so bad? The answer was _yes_, yes he was.

I glanced over, somehow, towards Edward now and just looked at him.

_But you chose any girl but me. Why you so speechless? Oh, oh_

I knew the lyrics didn't say that, but I mouthed these instead – death and company didn't feel appropriate for the situation. Even if he couldn't read my lips, I knew what I was saying and needed to say that out loud.

The stage went totally black for a minute as the cheers erupted from the audience. I saw movement coming from the other two pianos and Rose and Alice walked over to me. The lights came on as they came over so that we could bow to the audience. I wasn't having any of that – as soon as the lights were on I gave a wave to the audience and left. I walked right past the boys and headed straight for our backstasge area.

Now, I _really_ just needed to be alone.

**i hope that lived up to everyone's expecation of the lipsyncing contest and everyone like the song selection. there were reasons behind it - hope you guys saw that. incase you aren't familar with the songs or haven't seen the videos, they'll be posted on my profile page.**

**would love to hear what you guys thought. love it? loathe it? indifferent? let me know ;)**

**next chapter will be the guy's portion of the contest, so stay tuned.**


	32. You Get What You Need

**hello hello! happy fourth of july and eclipse weekend! how many times have you all seen it yet? i'm on my second! sorry for such a delay; its been catastrophy after catastrophy in my house as of late which has lef tme a little more than distracted. but i'm back with a new chappie. its a ong one, so i hope it makes up for my time away.**

**thank you guys for all the comments, you are awesome. fantastic, glorious...the list goes on and on.**

**a big thanks to pennylane who's been helping me out - you're a lifesaver**

**hope you guys like it! without further aduie...**

EPOV

"So, what did you think of our winning set?" Alice asked us, as she ran off the stage slightly out of breath.

"Eh…" Jasper causally replied, shrugging his shoulders and smirking.

She playfully hit his arm and rolled her eyes. "Uh huh. You're just jealous that we're going to kick your ass."

Rose came dashing off the stage next.

"That was awesome babe. You are planning on keeping that leather jacket, right," Emmett said with a mischievous glint in his eyes as he pulled Rosalie close and enveloped her in a tight embrace.

Jasper sharply exhaled. "Ew! Sister, Emmett, _sister_! How many times do I have to tell you that?" he exclaimed.

"Clearly, not enough," Emmett said with a laugh.

"Aww, is Jaspy Wasy getting all bent out of shape…"Rose mocked tugging on his cheeks, as he pushed her hand away.

I glanced towards the stage hoping Bella had changed her mind and had come over to where we were standing. I had seen her rush off the stage as soon as the lights came on after their set but thought she would at least walk by us as she left. When she hadn't appeared a minute or so after the other two came off I started to worry. I seemed to be the only one, though, who was concerned with Bella's disappearing act. Maybe I had been the only one who even noticed that she had rushed off. The rest of them were too involved in their own conversations to notice that something was awry.

"Guys, where's Bella?" James asked looking around.

Alice and Rosalie looked at each other and then rolled their eyes. "She ran off the stage as soon as the song was over. _Something_ must have gotten to her, or made her upset, _yet again_. What a _biiiiiig_ surprise," Rose stated, somewhat flippantly and disinterested.

Well, that seemed somewhat harsh. There was no need for the attitude, but it was Rose. And Rosalie and bitchiness were somewhat synonymous. I looked to Alice, the more rational of the two, for the appropriate, concerned, response I was looking for.

"Now, that does seem to be happening a lot now, doesn't it?" Alice responded with the same sort of attitude.

I was shocked to hear this coming out of Alice; she was always the first one to back up Bella regardless of the situation. I could feel my forehead creasing with confusion as I stared at her.

"Don't give me that look," Alice instructed me. "Just give us a minute to bask in the afterglow of our glorious performance. We deserve some time for ourselves, seeing as how we don't get a lot of that anymore with Bella, the drama queen, around. We just want some time, for us - without drama; I don't think that's too much to ask," she explained.

Huh? Was I in some crazy parallel universe where Rose _and_ Alice didn't seem to care what was going on with their best friend? An hour ago they had been all about making sure Bella was okay and now they could care less? Besides, they were, generally, all about the drama and wanting to know what was going on; why the sudden change? What changed in an hour?

"Well," I said, finally speaking up, "I think at least one of you should go check on her and see if she's okay."

"Of course _you_ do…" Rose snapped, the bitchiness rearing its ugly head at me.

Under most circumstances I would just ignore the attitude but right now this was hitting me the wrong way. And her attitude was _really_ getting on my nerves. If Rose wanted a fight, she could have one.

"They'll go in a minute," Em interrupted, defending the girls' actions and trying to placate the situation before things really got out of hand.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked Rose, ignoring what Emmett had to say and focusing in on her. I looked around the group to see if anyone else felt similarly as the other two. "Does anyone else have something to contribute?"

They all looked down; no one was willing to make eye contact except for Rosalie.

"I'm just going to go check on Mike…" James awkwardly announced, backing away slowly. He excused himself from the tense situation that he seemed happy to not be a part of.

"What she was _trying_ to say was that it makes sense that you want someone to go check on her because you care about Bella; you want to make sure she's okay. You're hoping that maybe one of us will finally be able to reach out to her and that she'll finally tell someone why she's been so upset, since she won't talk to you," Jasper explained, saying almost everything I was thinking out loud, in an attempt to keep Rose at bay.

He was hoping that if all this was finally out in the open, that everyone knew what I was thinking but just wasn't saying, it would calm Rose down. I glanced over at Rose to see if this had worked but what he said did not seem to help the situation. In fact, it seemed to have angered the beast more and only made things worse: she hated when people, especially her brother, tried to keep her quiet.

"Well that's some of it, but you're missing a _large_ piece of the puzzle. It's not that he wants one of _you_," she exclaimed pointing to the boys, "he wants _us_ to find out," she stated then pointing between herself and Alice. "You _expect_ me and Alice, to go and find out; that we do your dirty work for you. You don't ask us - you just fucking expect it! Whatever happened, this is _your_ doing, not ours – I didn't fuck this up, _you_ did. Why should we find out for you? If you care so much, go reason with her yourself – cause she's not listening to anyone else and I'm sick of pushing her. Don't put us in the fucking middle."

Rose was getting worked up and I could sense I was getting defensive towards her comments. "I'm not _trying_ to put you in the middle," I replied back to her, trying to stay calm.

"Well then, _maybe_, you shouldn't ask us to go check on her so we can report to you what we find out," she spat at me, getting closer, like this was some kind of challenge.

I held my composure as she moved closer. I tried to keep my breath stay because I knew if I didn't focus on my breathing I would have lost it.

"If we want to see how she is, we will, but don't expect us to do what you tell us to. Fix your own damn problems. You both are just so _selfish_: wha, wha wha, me, me, me. Not everything is about you two!" she exclaimed, raising her arms up like she had, had enough of all of this. "I've had it up to here with both of you: with your whining and your moping and all of your bullshit. Either work it out or move on. Stop playing fucking games with each other and just move on! Or don't, whatever. Just leave us out of it! Both of you could care less about how this affects the rest of us - have you even thought about that? No, of course you haven't because this is all about you," she yelled, as she poked me with her finger, just in case I hadn't figured out who she was talking about.

"Do you hear me, I'm done! If you guys want to open up, talk and come clean about whatever it is that's going on, fan-fucking-tastic, otherwise just leave me out of it!" Rose yelled, concluding her rant and storming off.

I was livid right now - I was breathing very heavily to keep calm; if this had been a cartoon my face would be red and smoke would be coming out of my nostrils. Usually, I blocked out Rose's comments, but right now… Well, right now she hit a _big_ nerve and I couldn't even respond to her because she stormed off. But the storming off wasn't the thing that pissed me off most: it was the fact that she was wrong. _I_ had not put them in the middle; in fact, I was deliberately trying to _not_ put them there. If they were getting the feeling that they had to choose sides of whatever, it wasn't coming from me – they could blame Bella for all of that. _I_ was trying to be the diplomatic one here and yet _I_ was being painted as the bad guy – _hell no_!

"Is that what you all think? That I'm putting you in the middle and all that other crap Rosalie said?" I asked them, bubbling with anger but trying to keep my cool. It really wasn't their fault that Rose went nuts.

"Yes. Well, no – not entirely… Most of this isn't directed towards you; Rose just took it out on you because she can't say that stuff to Bella right now," Emmett explained, rubbing his temples, as if this hadn't been the first time he'd heard Rosalie's rant.

"We, _all_, know that you really aren't the one at fault here when it come to talking things out. I, honestly, have no idea what happened between the two of you, so I can't say if all of _that_ really is your fault or not, but no one thinks that you haven't handled this well. You've tried just about everything to get her to open up but she just keeps avoiding the situation altogether. If anything, _Bellas's _the one we're all frustrated with because she refuses to discuss _anything_ pertaining to this situation: she pretends she's fine one minute and the next she's a total mess. Even if she's upset and hurt, the mature thing to do would be to at least talk to you about things, even if she can't really cope," Alice answered.

She, too, looked exhausted with all the stuff that's been going on. I knew it had been hard for me, but I hadn't stopped to think how everyone else had been affected by this. As much as I, _really_, didn't want to admit it, Rosalie was right. I had been selfish throughout this whole thing – I had yet to think about how any of this had affected the rest of the friends. I had been trying to keep them out of this but they would be drawn in regardless. I never even stopped to simply ask how they were doing. What a self absorbed prick I had become.

"I do agree with Rose, though, that if she's not going to talk to you, you need to move on. It sucks that I've thought of this, even worse, saying it out loud, but with Jacob here… it's probably best if you leave her alone. Just give her what she's been asking for: give her space - go on with your own life. Maybe, in time, she'll finally open up about what happened. You've given it your best try but there's only so much you can do when the other person isn't even willing to meet you part of the way," Alice ended her thought. She seemed fairly annoyed with the last bit of her statement but the annoyance didn't seem to be directed at me. I couldn't believe the girls had been bottling up all this agitation with Bella.

Was she saying what I thought she was? Were they right that I should just give up on Bella? Was that even a possibility?

"Edward's right about one thing: someone _should_ go check on Bella," Em commented, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Well duh. Rose might say a lot of stuff but she cares about Bella…about _both_of you, though she won't admit to the later willingly. She's just as frustrated and annoyed with Bella's behavior as am I. At least you try to keep us out of this; trying to keep us out of the unnecessary drama and give us space from the situation. Bella, on the other hand, has no concept of this and is making everything about her – she's being so selfish and it's just hard to be around her. Has she asked about any of us? Does she even care what kind of strain we're under because of this? No... Everything's all about her…" Alice vented, forgetting that we were there.

"Alice…" Jasper chimed in, reminding her that we were all standing there.

"Oh right," she said, snapping out of it. "I'll go find the two of them. Rose is probably already with Bella. You guys just go out there and worry about your performance. You'll do great – just not a great as us. Hopefully, we'll be able to convince her to vacate the bathroom or whatever confined space she's in at the moment, and make it out to see your set," Alice said with a weak smile before she left.

I turned to look at Emmett and Jasper's expressions after all of this. Both of their eyes were glued to the ground, hesitant to meet my gaze. Hmm, I wonder why that could be…

"Is it safe to come back now?" James asked hesitantly.

"You're all good, Hurricane Rosalie has left… for now," Jasper replied.

"Do you think they're right?" I asked them, though; it was more of a rhetorical question and something for me to ponder.

"Right about…?" Jasper asked, trying to get a little more information here.

I realized that I had proposed this question to the others. I guess there was no harm in getting their opinions – the girls had already voiced _their_ thoughts on the matter. "That I should move on and just leave Bella alone?" I explained further.

"Well, being girls and knowing more about how the female brain works than me, I would say yes - if you're looking at it from a logical perspective. But you've gotta go with what your gut's tellin' ya," Em answered.

That was helpful... I looked to Jasper to see what he thought; he tended to have a little more insight than Emmett in most matters. I loved Emmett, but you never really went to him when you needed advice on anything.

"Don't look at me - this is all up to you, I don't have the answers. I'm smart enough to know that whatever answer I give you is going to upset you, because you don't want to hear it. So this will only make things worse. Besides, you're just going to do whatever you want to do anyway," Jasper replied and then walked away.

I couldn't fault him in his response because he was right. If I were him, I probably would have said the exact same thing. I turned my attention to James now; maybe he would have some words of wisdom. I looked to him with optimistic eyes.

"Oh no, I'm sticking with Jasper here. Whatever I tell you is probably going to be wrong, or at least, taken the wrong way," he stated.

"It very well might be, but I promise I won't bite your head off if I don't like what I hear. I'm just asking for your opinion and I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know," I pleaded with him. "Besides, you have a little more insight than the other two."

"Hey! I take offense to that," Emmett interjected. "Just because he's gay doesn't mean he has anymore to contribute or is more 'insightful' than me," he commented while air quoting.

I rolled my eyes and ran a hand through my hair. "Em, it's not because he's gay; it's because he's around Mike more. And guess who Mike's been living with all week..." I explained.

I waited to see that light of recognition flicker on in Em's eyes. He finally understood. "I got it - you may proceed," he commented.

"So?" I asked again, hoping he would give me an answer.

James glanced back and forth quickly, making sure that no one else was around. "Mike's going to kill me for saying this, but I think that he's wrong. He thinks that you should just keep fighting for her, and the way he puts it, harassing her, until Bella has no other choice than to open up to you. He knows she still has feelings for you and he seems to think she just needs a push to finally open up. But, I've seen the way she's been treating you and you don't deserve this - especially after making such an effort to find out what's been wrong. Contrary to what you all think: I _do not _know what happened so I can't tell you much on that front. But you deserve an explanation and Bella won't give you one," he explained, pausing, again, to look to see if Mike was coming.

"I know you care about her and I know she still cares about you, try as she might to make everyone believe otherwise. But, sometimes caring isn't enough; I think you should give her space and leave her alone. I agree with Alice, you can only push so much before you start resenting the other person for not trying either. So, to really give yourselves any shot of reconciliation down the line, just to give her the time and space she's been asking for," James concluded.

I was kind of shocked that everyone thought this. It wasn't just a couple, but _all_of them. I guess I could omit Jasper, but he thought the same thing too. He had been right; I didn't want to hear this - I didn't want to hear that they all thought I should give up. But just because I didn't want to hear it didn't mean that they were wrong.

They had valid points: I had been putting in all this effort to reason with Bella, to try and get her to open up so that things could be better _for us_, and what had she done? She'd done nothing but run away. She just pretended that nothing had happened. And, on top of that, she flew Jake out the first chance she got - what the hell? I was starting to see their point of view a little clearer now.

"Edward, you okay?" James asked, snapping his fingers in front of my face. "You've been standing there for a minute not saying anything."

"Yeah," I answered him, absent-mindedly running a hand through my hair.

It was now just the two of us; Emmett had disappeared - probably looking for Jasper.

"Listen, I _know_ it's going to be hard to do - to just let her be - but waiting around for her will drive you crazy. It's hard to just let someone you love go and not know..."James started.

Well that snapped me back to the moment. "What?" I said with nervous laughter. "Who said anything about love? I don't love Bella. Where did you come up with that… Wait, did _she_ say something; does she love me?" I asked him, with a hope that she had confessed something to him or Mike.

"No - you don't love her..." he said with a mild chuckle. He then looked seriously at me, "Come on, no one would ever do all of this and put up with this crap if they weren't fighting to keep the person they loved."

I stared at him blankly. He still hadn't answered the question that I wanted answered the most: did she love me?

"Can you honestly tell me that you don't love her?" he asked again, looking me in the eye.

I didn't know how to respond. I couldn't lie, but at the same time I didn't want to say that I loved her if he knew that she didn't love me. If I answered he would know, but if I didn't say anything, he would know too. This was a lose-lose situation. But, in this equation, it wasn't like my feelings mattered anymore. Clearly my feelings were never the thing that mattered - everything was all about Bella. So I just nodded my head.

"Well they have that saying for a reason: if you let it go and it comes back to you, then you'll really know, or something like that," James replied.

I nodded my head, familiar with the saying. "You know, you're quiet perceptive," I told him.

"Well, I am a psych major," he replied with a grin.

"Guys, we're on in a minute. Hurry up," Jasper replied.

"Thanks for all the advice, really," I told James, patting him on the back.

"I know that its hard now, but if it's meant to be, it will all work out. This could just make you guys stronger, who knows? Sorry I couldn't give you any better advice, err, more happy advice - I know this wasn't what you were hoping to hear," he stated. "And don't worry; your secret is safe with me, there will be no mention of the L word. Now, come on, we've got a contest to win"

I weakly smiled at him, as we walked over to the other two. "I know you're just trying to help; I'm trying to stay optimistic."

Again, this wasn't what I wanted to hear but maybe they were right. Maybe leaving Bella alone was the solution. I didn't feel up to going on stage at the moment, but I didn't want to let them down. Who knows, maybe it would be fun.

"Let's have some fun out there," Emmett said, looking over at me.

"Everything cool?" Jasper asked, raising an eyebrow.

This retort, coupled with the raised eyebrow, was Jasper's version of checking in and asking if I was okay, if I needed to talk, and that he was sorry for all of this - it was an overall shitty situation. One just needed to speak Jasperese to interpret that this was what he meant. I'd been living with this fool for too long to not decipher his _verbose _language.

"It's cool," I replied back. "Let's go win this thing…and kick the girls' ass," I told them, plastering a fake smile across my lips.

The thing was I did want to win this, though. Call it pride, a male ego thing or whatever, but I wanted to win. And I, _especially_, wanted to beat Bella at something legitimately, even if it was a stupid lip syncing contest. This would be my own little personal victory between the two of us. I knew really this didn't matter; I was being immature about the contest because in the big scheme of things winning wouldn't make a difference in our relationship but it would make me feel better. And, damn it, I deserved to feel better.

"That sounds like an excellent plan: we win, we party and then we head to lovely sandy beaches of Mehico tomorrow, trophy in hand. Take that Rosie!" Emmett replied.

"Emmett!" both Jasper and I yelled at him.

"Crap," he said dryly and sheepishly, dropping his head, looking down.

He had done so well thus far; he hadn't even let it slip to Rose or anyone else for that matter. We were totally in the clear for tomorrow, no one was suspecting anything. Now, in the home stretch, he blabs? Come on Em! Big mouth strikes again.

"It's not really that bad; I mean, we're leavin' tomorrow. It's not like you're going to be speaking to Bella or Rose tonight, anyway, and they think that we're going on college tours over break. This is alright, we're gonna be fine - right James? You're not gonna tell them, right?" he stated, turning towards James, slightly panicked that he just fucked this up.

"You guys are going to Mexico for ski week and didn't tell the girls? Don't you think they're going to figure it out when you come back all tan from your alleged 'college tour'?" he asked, air quoting.

"We told them our last stop is going to be in LA, so we'll be covered," Jasper explained.

"The girls are going to _kill_ you. And Rose… well, say goodbye to your balls," James told Emmett.

"Yea, I know but it will be worth it. I figure if I get her a big enough present it might take some of the heat off me: basically distractin' her with something big and shinny," Emmett reasoned. "But are you going to tell them?" he asked again, as Mr. Torrence motioned, yet again, for us to take the stage.

James nodded again. "This secret is, _also_, safe with me," he replied.

I was the only one who picked up on the also part of that sentence, luckily.

"Guys, I think we better get out there before Torrence has an embolism or something," Jasper commented with a chuckle.

The dude was turning a pretty deep shade of red which only made this more humorous. Since he was normally so pale, the stark contrast with his red face and whitish/blond hair made him look even more like an alien than usual. It was pretty entertaining to watch and a good distraction from all the Bella nonsense that was going on. A good way to lighten the mood before we went on stage.

"Alright, let's go," I announced, starting to walk onto the stage.

I scanned the first couple rows of the auditorium to see if Alice and Rosalie had managed to get Bella out there yet. First row - nothing. Second row - nothing. I could kind of see the third row, but the lights were too bright to really get a good look at who was beyond that point; besides, the "performers" were supposed to sit in the first couple rows anyway. The only person I did manage to see was Jake, who had that damn cocky grin he was so fond of plastered across his face: what a jack ass. All I wanted to do was wipe that smirk off; one punch would do the trick, but I wouldn't. One, because I was on stage and couldn't just jump down and give him a beat down, and two, because I was going to try to do what everyone told me and leave Bella alone. If she wanted to be with that douche bag, she could be my guest.

I saw Jasper reach for his guitar, getting ready to play the opening chords of the song. We knew this was supposed to be a lip synching contest but since Jazz knew how to play, and played very well in fact, we figured we would use that to our advantage. And if we were supposed to be portraying The Stones, the person who played Keith Richards had to play, _actual_, guitar - that was a given.

Technically, as Alice would say, we weren't violating any of the rules because none of us were going to actually be singing - so we were within the parameters of the contest. As Jasper played the opening notes of the song and the music started to swell, I grabbed the mic and began to mouth the words to the song.

_If you start me up. If you start me up I'll never stop_

I started singing out to the audience. I still wasn't feeling the whole performance, due to all the unnecessary drama that as going on, but I tried to fake it. And by the sounds of the screams it sounded like I was doing an alright job.

I looked over at Jasper as I continued with the first verse of the song. He seemed like he was enjoying himself. Here, he was able to just play and not think about all this other crap going on. I knew he got overwhelmed with all of this; he was really sensitive to vibes people put out which was why he was so mellow all the time. And I knew between Bella and I, our tension and perpetual agitated state, was getting to him. On stage playing, though, he was able to focus on the playing and just relaxed, rocking out while he played with James.

James didn't play half bad for someone who claimed that he had never strummed a guitar in his life. The only one who looked out of place was Emmett. He looked like he was a little kid banging on his mom's pots and pans. Even though Rose had tried to give him lessons, since she was quiet good, he was hopeless.

I continued mouthing the lyrics, though, not with as much enough enthusiasm as I should have. It wasn't that I was doing a bad job or that the audience could tell; it was that _I_ knew I wasn't giving it my all. This performance wasn't up to par and that bothered me. Even with a dumb lip syncing contest, that meant nothing more than some bragging rights, I still needed to be perfect. I, seriously, had to have some sort of god-like/perfectionist complex. No one was infallible and perfect all the time but I held myself to that unattainable standard. That being said, if I was going to turn this thing around and focus on the performance, I needed to get out of my head - and get Bella out of there too.

What everyone said had merit: she _was_ being immature and avoiding and I shouldn't have to deal with that. Whatever it was that happened, I was the one who was trying to talk it out. She just, plain out, refused - what the hell? Why was _I_ the only one busting my ass to get answers and to try to work this out if she could care less? Could it really be _that_ bad that she won't talk about it with anyone?

But if that was the case, then fuck it, apparently she didn't know me at all. If she believed that I would do something like that to her, to _us_, then maybe they were right and I _should_ move on. Why was I putting up with all of her BS? I _should_ be moving on and getting over her, but there was that small, very trivial, matter that changed everything: I loved her.

Ah crap - I was still up in my head and needed to get out of it or we were going to lose this thing. Jasper shot me a look; clearly, he could tell what I was thinking about. He motioned to come over to him with a head jerk. I needed to stop telling myself to get over all this Bella stuff and just do it. I needed to man up, focus on the performance, and stop being such a woman worrying about all this stuff. I was supposed to be fucking Mick Jagger - do you think that he ever worried about these types of things? Did he ever worry about girl drama? Hell no he didn't!

As the chorus began, I walked over to Jazz and James who were supposed to join in.

_You make a grown man cry. You make a grown man cry. You make a grown man cry._

As the three of us mouthed this together, I felt myself loosening up a little and able to drift away from Bella. Being on stage with my friends could actually be a lot of fun, _if_ I let it; it was up to me to make the most of this performance and have a good time. I tried to stay in the moment which would force me to think of nothing but being up here. I thought of the clips we had watched, trying to channel some of Jagger's essence. Mostly, I just tried to nail down his movements: which involved a lot of wiggling, shimmying, dancing, and thrusting. I could do the wiggling, shimmying and dancing, but omitted the thrusting bit, this being a family show and all.

As I moved across the stage, trying my best to channel Mick, I somehow was able to put everything out of my head and just focus on what I was currently doing. I was compartmentalizing everything. Right now, I locked Bella and all that related drama, away in the back of my mind. I tried to allow myself to only think about the show - that was the only quadrant I would allow to be open. Bella was still there, but behind lock and key - she wasn't going to be the only thing I could think about tonight if I could help it.

Some girls had come up to the front of the stage - our own groupies. They were screaming and cheering for us; at one point I expected someone to throw their panties at me the way they were acting. I played along and even threw in a small thrust in to give the people what they wanted - insanity ensued instantly. And I wondered how I could have a god - complex with everyone being so calm and mellow around me…

I continued to move across the stage as the song neared its end. I danced around James who was coolly bopping his head to the beat as he strummed the guitar; he totally had the cool rockstar thing down. He raised his eyebrows at me and shifted his eyes, signaling me to glance over to where he was looking. I started the last verse, spinning around to get a better peek at what he was looking at.

_Ride like the wind, at double speed. I'll take you places that you never, never seen_

The girls had now made their way out to the audience, taking their seats on the left side of the stage in the front row. Rose and Alice did not look happy; in fact, they looked annoyed. I wasn't sure if it was because of Bella or because we were kicking ass on stage – could have been a little of both. I allowed myself to _very_ quickly glance at Bella, justifying this by saying it was just to make sure she was alright. She was fine, just looked really tired. I willed myself to stay focused and on the task at hand; I couldn't allow myself to get sucked into her drama and just stare at her, trying to figure out what was going on. I was leaving her alone and enjoying my moment… or at least doing my damnedest to try and do that.

The song soon finished and screams were heard throughout the auditorium. I glanced over and happened to look over at Jake who looked bothered that we were getting this type of reception from the crowd. I bet when he did the contest last year his damn group didn't get all this attention. Score: Edward 1, Jacob 0; take that asshole.

Jasper played the opening chords of the next song as the brightest spotlight fell one.

_I can't get no, satisfaction. I can't get no, satisfaction. Cause I try, and I try, and I try, and I try. But I can't get no._

I belted this out and stole another glance at Bella. I tried not to, but it was just too hard - it was too tempting to not see what her reaction to this song was going to be. I could still look over at her and keep her out of my head… After the opening chords of the song played, she had figured out what the song was and sunk down in her chair. Our eyes met for a brief second and she sank down even lower. This song wasn't meant as a message to her but I guess it might be perceived that way; and it did tie in pretty well with how I was feeling. I _couldn't_get any damn satisfaction. And I did try; I tried fucking everything. But everything I tried seemed to just go wrong. Everyone was telling me what I was doing was wrong; I just had to laugh at how fitting this song _actually_ was - I wondered if anyone else picked up on this?

But I wasn't thinking about what they thought and the Bella nonsense, I was focusing on the performance and winning… I needed to focus on that: we _were_ going to win this. Screw the girls and their Gaga tribute –we _were_ going to take them down. I sang the song, and meant every damn word. I interacted with the audience, had fun with the guys, and danced, wiggled and squirmed to my heart's content. I _was_ Mick Jagger at the moment. I remembered his little nuances when he performed, like pursing his lips and all the spastic leg movements, and incorporated every one of those. I wanted us to blow everyone out of the park with my impersonation – I was going to lock this trophy down for us.

The small group of girls which had gathered at the front of the stage had turned into a much larger group, so it was more of a heard now. I looked over at James who had a bemused smirk on his face; I'm sure he wasn't used to this type of female adoration, or at least not in this capacity. Emmett was still banging, off beat, on the drums but he was so far back I doubted anyone would be able to notice. Jasper, though, was in total rockstar mode; if I was channeling Jagger, he was definitely channeling Richards. The only thing he was missing was Richards' cigarette hanging out of his mouth, which he had tried to get away with but got stopped by school officials. He had his own little group of girls that were just cheering for him, as well, which I'm sure was making Alice crazy. As far as I knew she was still trying to seduce Jasper, and all these underclassman were sure to ruffle her feathers.

The song was almost over – this one had gone by so fast. I was, already, on the last verse, mouthing the words to my set of groupies. If I ever had the dream of becoming a rockstar down the line, I would always think back to this moment.

I sang the last chorus of the song and then threw down the microphone, walking off the stage. The set was not over, but I thought doing this would get the audience even more excited and riled up before the last song. Besides, I also had to check and make sure our ace-in-the-hole were there for the next number.

I rushed off to the side of the stage as the lights started to soften, giving the auditorium a more peaceful and serene vibe. The band and the show choir were there and ready to go on.

"You guys ready?" I asked their corresponding front men.

Both nodded and got their groups together, preparing to go on stage as rehearsed. I started a countdown with my fingers; as soon as I hit one, they all started walking out on stage, singing and playing. Yes, the band was playing live and the choir was singing along, but _I_ was still not singing, so again, we were totally within the rules.

_I saw her today at the reception, a glass of wine in her hand. I knew she would make her connections at her feet was her footloose man._

_No you can't always get what you want. You can't always get what you want. You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime you find, you get what you need._

Once the choir finished singing their intro and getting into position, the spotlight fell on Jasper as he and the band started to play. This was Jasper's solo, where all the attention was really focused on him; his little band of groupies went nuts over this. I quickly looked over at Alice who _really_ did not look amused with her arms crossed and her face hardened in a disapproving scowl.

When he finished, I walked out from the side of the curtain singing the first verse, a repetition of what the choir had sung first, and sat on the elevated drum platform. This song, too, embodied my life at the moment, maybe even more so than the one before. I wasn't getting what I wanted, but maybe that was okay, because maybe it's what I needed.

As I finished, the music picked up becoming a little livelier. I jumped off the edge of the drum platform and moved towards the front of the stage. This small action seemed to send my group of girls into a frenzy. Clearly, they just went nuts with any and every little move I made. I wonder what Bella thought of that… No, I pushed past this thought and stayed focused on the performance.

I sang the next few verses strolling between James and Jasper. Jazz had been completely in the moment, totally rocking out, while James seemed like he was still trying to figure out why he was getting all this female adoration – this was new terrain for him and clearly wasn't sure how he should act. If I wasn't supposed to be singing at the moment it would have been fascinating to just sit there and watch his reaction.

The band was still playing with us as we made our way through the verses. The choir was in the background harmonizing with the actual track. All in all, this performance had worked out perfectly and shaped up to be a damn good time…given the circumstances. It seemed like my three bandmates were enjoying themselves as well – as was the audience. Well, the _majority_ of the audience; Alice and Rose just looked pissed off that our performance was going better than they anticipated. I looked over at Alice with a huge grin on my face; she just narrowed her eyes at me and gave me the bird.

I had been pretty good throughout the rest of this song, not looking at Bella and keeping all stuff involving her into the neat compartment I had initially put her into, but for some reason this last verse drew me to her. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I didn't know if it was the lyrics of the song or just to check if she was okay but I needed to see her.

I started the last verse. All through the verse she kept her eyes locked with mine. I didn't know if anyone else could tell what was going on between us, or if anyone was watching, but I didn't really care. There was something different about her that I couldn't quite put my finger on, which caused me to worry, even though I shouldn't have been worrying in the first place. She had an overall sadness in her demeanor. It was like she was acknowledging that the lyrics meant something to her as well – that she was sad about the situation too.

As I sang the first round of the chorus I held her gaze. With every utterance of "You can't always get what you want", she sank lower in her chair. Was it that she wasn't getting what she wanted or was she thinking that this was what I was thinking and directing it towards her? I gave her a small, semi smile and shrugged as I finished the last line of the chorus. I sang the critical part of the chorus, "You get what you need", and resigned myself to this truth – that this break was what I needed regardless of if I wanted it or not.

I tore myself away from her brown eyes and refocused my attention back to the general audience. I took a second and turned around, allowing myself to pout or grieve or do whatever the fuck I needed; taking a minute and putting whatever I was just doing with Bella out of my head before returning to the performance. I needed to finish the song strong; I wasn't about to let her distract me from my task at hand.

I started the second round of the chorus before the song went instrumental. I moved across the stage mouthing the lyrics to the crowd and clapping my hands with the beat. I noticed that some people started catching on and clapped along with me. Since this caught on, I tried something with a little more audience participation. I sang a line of the chorus and then held the mic out to the audience to repeat, which, surprisingly, they did.

At first it was just the groupies that had gathered in the front. Slowly, though, just like with the claps, the rest of the audience began catching on. Soon, everyone, aside from the select few, were singing "You can't always get what you want". I'm sure Bella was _thrilled_ that everyone around her was driving this point home; if she didn't like one person saying it, I'm sure she just _loved_ hearing an auditorium full of people belting it out.

I sauntered back and forth, dancing with the music and mouthing the lyrics. The actual lyrics in the song soon stopped but the audience continued singing along. The influence I had over such a large crowd was kinda crazy. I moved over to the choir and band, acting as the conductor as the song culminated in the grand finale. There was one final swell in music with the band, choir, and Jasper and then the song ended. The crowd roared with applause. Our set was over and we had received a standing ovation. The entire auditorium was on their feet, aside for four individuals who sat there disgruntled and sulking. The four of us took and bow or waved and headed off the stage.

"This is in the bag," Emmett stated, eyeing the trophy.

"You know you can say congratulations," Emmett told Rosalie, as he held out the large trophy. It was like he was taunting her, which he probably was. He was a brave man; I'd be too afraid she'd impale me with the trophy.

It was like laser beams were coming out of her eyes; this was no ordinary glare. She looked at him one last time, evaluating what she should do, and finally walked away.

"Now, no one likes a sore _looooser_, Rosie," he called after her with a laugh, dragging out the loser in that statement. "I'll even let you hold the trophy!"

"I wouldn't taunt her," Jasper warned, semi-serious.

We were all at Tyler's for a pre-ski week/post contest party. It seemed like the entire senior class, and maybe half the juniors, were there. This was going to be a bitch of a cleanup for him tomorrow.

"This just doesn't make any sense," Alice muttered to herself, again, taking a sip from her drink.

"Come again," I said with a smirk, taking a sip from my own.

"Oh just shut up," she said before walking away in a huff.

Neither of them could believe that we beat them fairly – they were taking it worse than I anticipated. Not that I thought _us_ beating _them_ would go over well in the first place, but they were being more petty than expected. They hadn't even thought of us as a threat. They thought they had this in the bag and that the trophy was theirs. It wasn't like they even got last place or anything, they got second and a much smaller trophy… but to them that was the same as losing. It was first or nothing: it always had been, and probably always will be, that way with them.

"Well the two of them are taking his rather well, don't you think?" Jasper joked.

"As expected," I mused. "We all knew how they were going to react. Though, I did expect a little bit more of a tantrum from Alice."

"Ha! Then you must not have seen her backstage? She had the rules out and was re-reading them to Davidson. She kept saying that part of our set was against the rules and needed to be omitted from the competition. Then, when he kept saying that everything we did were in the bylaws of the contest, her trophy _slipped_and it flew against the wall fairly close to his head. She didn't get in trouble because he couldn't prove that it wasn't an accident but he got his ass as far away from Alice as he could after that. Oh, she had a tantrum alright, it just happened in private. I don't think Davidson even knew what to do with her; he looked like a deer in headlight as that trophy whizzed past his head – seriously, it was about 2 inches away from hitting him. He looked pretty scared of Alice – it was hillarious," he stated with a small laugh.

"She threw the trophy at him?" I said somewhat shocked, but not really surprised. "When did all this happen?"

"After the awards were given, which was why we got here late. She spent 20 minutes yelling at him after everyone had cleared out. I stuck around because I was giving her and Bella a ride over here," he said but stopped after he said Bella's name, as if it wasn't okay to even say her name around me.

"You don't need to watch yourselves around me; you _can_ say her name or _talk_ about her. I'm not going to have a nervous breakdown or something hearing her name. You should feel comfortable around both of us – I'm not going to make you guys take sides. Right now things are awkward but it's a transition period; we're still friends even though we're not together. I'm going to give what you guys said a try and give her, her space," I explained.

He looked a little taken aback by my rational explanation. "Well…good. I think that's the mature thing to do – be the bigger person here," he stated. "But…" he began.

I no longer was paying attention to what he was saying, though. Everything got a lot quieter as I saw Bella outside with Rose _and_ Jake. They were hanging around Jake's posse. Why was Rosalie with them and what was going on outside? Rose didn't look uncomfortable but she didn't look at ease either: all of her defenses were up. Bella still looked out of it, a little bit more than at school, but that could just be due to tiredness. Something _did_ look odd out there, though, like something was about to go down. And my hunches were usually correct.

"Yea maybe," I replied back to Jasper absentmindedly.

"Suuuuuure, you're just going to move on…" he commented with an eye roll. "Listen, if you're going to give her some space you can't be obsessing over what she's doing or not doing. Just leave her be. Am I getting through to you, at all?" he asked.

My eyes stayed locked over his shoulder on Bella. I nodded my head so he would think that I was actually paying attention to him.

"Seriously," he said, grabbing my shoulder and facing me towards him. "_Go home_. Start putting some distance between the two of you from now. You're going to just keep obsessing all night long over what's going on with her if you stay here, so take yourself out of the situation – it'll be easier that way. Besides, you need to pack for the trip," he stated.

It was hard to tear my gaze away from the scene playing out outside but eventually I did. Jazz was right, if I was going to give this space thing a shot and start to move past this I couldn't sit here obsessing about what Bella was or wasn't doing. Maybe it _was_ best if I just went home and relaxed.

"You're right, I'm going to go. It's probably best for all of us if I just left now," I agreed with him.

"Totally," he said with a small sigh of relief – I couldn't deny that this was probably a huge burden for all of them as well. "Go pack and chill. Remember to back a little bit extra for me," he commented, with a smile, before walking outside to go find Emmett.

I headed towards the door to leave. I stopped one last time, turning to look at Bella. She didn't, particularly, seem to be enjoying herself. I had only glanced at her for a second but she seemed to sense it and looked up at me. She didn't look away like she had every other time this happened this week – we just kinda stood there looking at each other.

This gaze just felt uncomfortable and awkward – like if I were to make any sort of move this delicate balance would be shattered. How weird was this that I felt uncomfortable about going over and talking to someone. This had never happened before, it was usually the other way around – most of the time people felt uneasy about approaching me. Feeling this way about the one person I trusted the most? This was one crazy ass situation we had gotten ourselves into.

Still, not knowing what exactly to do, I gave her an abrupt wave which caused her to give me a small semi-smile. Actually, it was more like the side of her mouth slightly twitched and curved up but I knew this was as much as she could actually muster towards me at the moment. I mimicked her reaction, giving her an actual smile back. I waited to see what her next move was going to be – this might have been too much and scared her off. I said I would leave her alone but if she initiated something by coming over to me, that was fair game in my book.

I waited a little more and still nothing; we both just kept looking at each other with those small grins on our face. What the hell was I doing? What was I expecting her to do exactly, come over and apologize about her behavior? Yea right, like that was going to happen. But maybe she wanted to talk. Did I want to talk about all of this now though? I was moving past this, I was giving her space – we were taking a break and getting distance.

Who was I kidding; _of course_ I wanted to talk to her about all of this. I also wanted to give this distance thing a shot, though. I knew not to over think and place too much stock in one look but this was the most we've, pleasantly, interacted in a while. Against my better judgment, I motioned with my head for her to come over. I knew this was probably too much and that this small motion would finally scare her away, but I went for it anyway. I waited for the reaction I was expecting, for her to finally pull away and go back to the conversation with Jake and Co, but, instead, she just shrugged.

That was strange and so _not_ Bella – something _was_ up. She never just shrugged; Bella _always_ had a definitive view point. She would never go along with something I suggested without some kind of push and now she just willingly agreed? I made another motion for her to come over, being more deliberate this time, just in case she thought I meant something else. This time she slowly nodded her head and stood up. Jacob looked over to see what was going on and reached for her hand, which she quickly drew back. She clearly didn't want him touching her and wasn't shy about hiding that fact.

She took a step forward and slightly wobbled to the side. She took another step and did the same thing. Something was off; she shouldn't have been swaying back and forth. Jake seemed to pick up on this too because he got up immediately.

I rushed over to where she was standing. "Bella?" I called out, worried.

She didn't have a chance to reply because she went down - it looked like she fell. Immediately, a group surrounded her to see what had happened and to check if she was okay. I pushed through the group, getting to the middle of the circle. Emmett had his hand around her waist and was trying to hold her up - it looked like her body went limp. I could tell that she was muttering something but she was saying it too quietly to make out what it was.

Jake had to have something to do with this. "What did you do?" I asked him, growling through my teeth.

Jasper was suddenly besides me. He may have been there the whole time but I just noticed now. "Remember what we _just_ talked about," he said, touching my shoulder and trying to calm me down.

I knew he was trying to keep a rational head. We didn't need to go to blows at the moment with Jake and all his friends with Bella still in the middle of this. But there was only so much I could endure with Jake; if he had done something to physically injure Bella that was it - I wouldn't be able to hold back.

I shot Jasper a look – I knew he was just trying to help but his calming attempt wasn't working; it was just making matters worse. I knew what I said and I fully intended to keep my word but when Bella was in danger all that went out the window. This wasn't about my girlfriend Bella, this was simply concern for my friend Bella. And we _were_ friends, that _was_ allowed. I would have acted the same if this happened with Rosalie or Alice.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jake asked, moving away from Emmett and Bella as he swayed back and forth.

"No fighting," Bella managed to get out in a weak voice, trying to put her hands up to stop us.

Both of us looked over at her but this movement disoriented Jake and he staggered a bit. He didn't look quite right either. His eyes were glossy, and not in the "I had a few too many drinks" way. He also was also much calmer than he normally would have been in the situation, almost like he was given a tranquilizer or something. He hadn't even tried to get Bella away from Emmett or make any sort of sarcastic quip towards him.

"Babe, why don't you take her to the car," Rosalie suggested, eyeing me carefully to see if this would fly with me.

Did she really think that I was going to make some sort of scene about this at the moment? Well… I guess that wouldn't be too much of a stretch but that wouldn't be happening now when people's well-being were actually at stake.

I gave Rose a nod to say that I agreed with her decision. With this, she and Em left, leaving Jasper and Alice to take their place in the circle.

"Emmett don't…" Jake started and took a step forward before he went down too.

Now, this was just weird. I could see one of them maybe having too much to drink but both of them, at basically the same time? This was not a coincidence.

Jake attempted to get up but didn't seem to be able to really control his long limbs – he couldn't move without assistance from Paul and Quil who laid him down on the chaise.

"Jake are you okay? How do you feel?" I asked, not particularly concerned but figuring whatever was going on with him was happening to Bella as well.

I wasn't an expert or anything on diagnosing but dad had shown me enough to tell if someone was on anything. He knew about the _recreational_ habits of people in Forks, especially with people around my age, since he took part in them when he was younger and seeing one too many kids come into the ER on a bad trip or overdose. He, also, wasn't stupid; he knew that my friends occasionally took part in this stuff. He wanted to make sure that someone would be able to take care of them in case they weren't comfortable going to him since he knew their parents. If someone did get sick or have a bad reaction I would know what to do– hence, the drug crash course for dummies.

"I'm fine," Jake answered softly, as his lids started to droop.

I held his face and held open his eye: it was definitely dilated. "How much did you have to drink?" I asked as I let him go and allowed him to crash onto the chair. I wanted to make sure that he didn't die but that didn't mean all was forgiven and that I was going to baby him. I tried to hide my grin as he thudded against the chair and tried to rub his head.

"I spit the flaskk with Bell," he slurred with his eyes closed, "that's it."

"That shouldn't have been enough to get him to this point," Alice commented.

"I know," I answered her in a flat tone as I felt my face harden and my hands clench into fists.

His answer meant that this wasn't just a case of getting too drunk to walk but that someone had done this to them. _Someone_ had put _something_ into their drink. And there were no suspects, seeing as how the primary one was drugged as well and I doubted he would do this to himself… though that wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

"Where's the flask?" Jasper asked.

Everyone looked around. Quil spotted it hanging out of Jake's pocket and grabbed it. Paul took it instantly from Quil and opened it up.

"There's still some liquid in it," Paul announced, grabbing a cup and pouring the remainder of the flask into it.

He sat there inspecting the drink. "Well, it smells like rum," he stated, dipping his pinkie into the cup and then putting it in his mouth. "Tastes like it too."

He held out the cup and handed it to Jasper so that he could see as well.

Paul drew the cup back and looked at it again. "It's straight rum but there's a cloudiness to it. Most likely someone slipped something into it. Looking at the consistency and the overall murkiness, it was probably a Roofie – since that's fairly easy to get and has this effect on liquids," he explained. "And hold all commentary Alice on all your reasons why I would know this. Cullen's not the only one whose family's in the medical field – all of my mom's side are doctors and chemists," he added on with an annoyed glance at Alice.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Alice shot back at him while biting her lip and looking a little shocked that Paul even knew this. She never thought that he'd been the brightest blub.

Jasper and I both shot her a look, just in case she was going to change her mind. But she looked like she was filing this particular nugget away for later use.

"Jacob, most likely, didn't even notice anything was wrong since he wasn't looking in the flask and it doesn't taste any different. They're going to be fine – no one's ever died from being Roofied. They just need to sleep it off. We'll take care of him, you guys get Bella home," Paul concluded.

Paul's reassurance that Jake was going to be fine was all I needed to hear. I took off to go find Bella and make sure she was actually okay. I would take his word that Jake was going to be fine, because I didn't really care if any side effects happened to him and if they did happen, he kind of deserved it. But I wasn't going to risk anything happening to Bella. Someone had Roofied her – what the fuck? I was furious over the situation and was ready to beat down whoever did this to her. The only problem was I didn't know who to blame.

I hurried through the house getting to the front as quickly as possible. I finally reached Em's car. They were waiting for us to come out before they made any other decisions.

"I already called Carlisle, he should be home by the time we there," Rosalie commented.

"What happened back there? Did he give you any problems? Was he the one that did this?" Emmett asked with a glint in his eye; he was looking for the smallest excuse to get into it with Jake.

I ignored both of them and went directly to Bella. Alice and Jasper were coming and they could field any questions that they had – they knew just as much as I did. I got into the backseat with Bella. She was buckled up, so that she couldn't move around much. She was going in and out of consciousness.

"Bella?" I asked, gently touching her arm to make her come to. "Bella, can you hear me?"

She slowly opened her eyes – they fluttered, trying to focus on me. It took her longer than it should have to be able to focus on me, which concerned me; maybe this had more of an effect on her than it had on Jake.

"Edward?" she eked out.

I let out a relieved sigh that at least she was able to recognize who I was; her cognition had not been affected, which was something I was worried about. "Yup," I answered her with a relieved grin. "How are you feeling?"

She looked at me for a moment with glazed over and dilated eyes and then closed them. She leaned her head against the head rest. "Mmmm, tired," she muttered.

It wasn't a possibility any longer that she might have been in worse condition than Jake, it was a definite. If they had drunk the same amount, which I could only assume she had, the drug would have affected her more since she was half Jake's size. Paul was probably right, that they just needed to sleep it off, but I wasn't going to leave anything to chance. Dad needed to check her out as soon as we got home.

"We need to leave, now, and get her home," I told Emmett, craning my head out the window so I wouldn't be yelling in her ear.

"Where are we going?" Bella, groggily, asked looking up at me.

"Not very far; you can rest on the way," I told her softly, scooting in closer to her.

"Are you going to stay with me?" she asked, already nuzzling my chest.

I stiffened initially, unsure of what exactly was going on and what she was doing. I stayed still waiting for her to finish moving and tried to figure out what I should do. I wanted to make her feel at ease and comfort her but with everything else going on with us; I kinda froze, uncertain of what to do. I thought about that for a minute, though. There was no reason for uncertainty – I was just being a moron. You comfort people in need, period; and that's what I was going to do.

I eased up and relaxed once Bella finished moving. This was definitely not the ideal situation or circumstances that I was hoping for, for us to be close like this again, but I had to admit this was really nice. This was what I wanted all along. I smelled her shampoo mixed in with her perfume, it was heaven. I mad missed this closeness– no, I had just missed Bella. I missed her so much. In a way, I wished that this moment would last forever yet be over as quickly as possible. Being like this with her was only going to make it harder tomorrow when she was no longer here and things would be back to crappy normal but it was worth it. This was my happy place and I had been itching for my happy place.

I moved my arm so that it was now wrapped around her shoulder, which was more comfortable for both of us and would also allow her to snuggle in closer – and she did. I unbuckled her seatbelt so that she would be more comfortable since it seemed to be digging into her neck with the way she was situated. Besides, the whole reason she was in a seatbelt was to restrain her and keep her upright and, now, they didn't have to worry about that since I was holding onto her. As soon as I unbuckled the belt she started moving again until she seemed to find the right spot. This just happened to be somewhat on top of me: her head was buried on my chest/upper neck area while her legs intertwined with mine – which just happened to be the way we sat when we were alone together and we were on speaking terms… I smiled to myself thinking of this.

"I'm glad you're here - I missed you," she said in almost a whisper and then started snoring softly.

I was so tempted to reach down and kiss the top of her head, to tell her the exact same thing: that I utterly missed her and was glad that I was there too, but refrained – that would have just been too much. I could only take so much and have so much restraint before I cracked. Or cracked more than I already had.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jasper asked, surprised, as he slid into the front seat. "How many times do I have to remind you what we just talked about? Let's switch,"

"No," I almost yelled back at him – he wasn't about to take this moment away from me, but that couldn't be my rationale to him. "She's already comfortable; I don't want to move her," I replied back, much calmer and steadying my voice.

He was just staring at me – he knew that this wasn't the actual reason I wasn't going to be moving. But unless he was planning on literally throwing me out of the car, I was staying put. "You just said…" he began, loudly.

With my free hand I held a finger up to my mouth, signaling him to pipe down since Bella was sleeping.

Em shut the driver's door and looked in the back at Bella. "She's out cold, cool it," he ordered, starting the car and heading towards my house. "And answer the damn question – I'm not goin' to Mexico with you all mopey."

Great, both of them were going to be on my case now. "I'm still planning on doing what I told you guys – going along with what we talked about before – but she just got fucking Roofied," I said, trying to keep my voice even and not show how upset I actually was about this. "How exactly am I supposed to react? I think this way's a lot healthier than going crazy in there and tearing the place apart trying to figure out who did this – that wouldn't help anyone. This break, or whatever you want to call it, will start tomorrow when we board the plane. See, I still want to go on the trip; I think that's a big step in the right direction. Besides, she's the one who did all of this, I didn't put her in this position: she wants me here, so that's what I'm going to do," I explained to them.

"Personally, I think the kicking some ass option is a much better one – more fun too," Emmett interjected.

Jazz just rolled his eyes at this. "Fine, she made the unconscious decision to snuggle up to you, but what are you going to do when she wakes up? Hmmm? And Christ, stop playing with her hair – that is really unnecessary. Try to create some distance," he commented.

"Well, creating distance is a little difficult at the moment," I said with a smirk.

"You know what I mean,' he huffed. "Whatever, I mean why am I even bothering," he said under his breath.

"Because you know he's going to ruin the trip with his moping and brooding," Emmett answered, "and you're trying to be the peacemaker – like always. But bro, if you act that way, I've got nooo problem leaving your ass in the room – not one."

"I told you, I'll be fine," I semi-growled. They seemed more concerned over the trip tomorrow than they were about Bella, which pissed me off. On top of the fact that I really didn't want to go over all of this again and try to convince them that I meant what I said. They either believed me or they didn't but they didn't have to go on and on about this – they were just nagging now.

After that we sat in silence. It wasn't a long drive to the house but it was long enough to create an uncomfortable tension in the car. The two of them muttered something about the girls bringing the stuff left at the party to the house, which was what was keeping them. But mostly the car was quiet, aside from Bella's snoring and talking.

She kept mumbling things in her sleep but nothing loud enough to be able to discern what she was saying. She was also slurring her words together which didn't help. I tried to listen but it wasn't anything I could make out. I thought I heard my name once but couldn't be certain.

Em pulled into the driveway and I gently started moving Bella in an attempt to get her to wake up. Being gentle didn't seem to cut it, though; she remained fast asleep. I said her name over and over, getting louder with each time and still nothing. I started to panic a little, why was she not responding at all? Finally, Jasper opened the car door and the cool air elicited a response. I felt her skin prickle with goosebumps as she moved closer to me to retain any heat that she could.

"Coowd," she slurred.

"Bella, can you hear me? Can you to try to stand up," Jasper asked her.

She tried lifting her head up but nothing happened and this small move seemed to be a struggle for her. She tried again and this time she was able to sit up a little, with some assistance from me. I moved my hand a couple inches from her shoulder to see if she could really do this on her own but as soon as I did she fell back onto the seat. She had no control over her body.

"Why don't you try scooting her towards the edge of the seat and then we'll just carry her in; she's going to be dead weight," Emmett suggested.

"Am not," Bella tried to reply, which cause us all to laugh.

"She doesn't hear anything else and can't move, yet responds when I call her dead weight? Typical!" Em exclaimed.

We helped move her to the edge of the car while Emmett waited there to pick her up. I scooted her towards the door while Jazz lifted her legs to make it easier for me to move her. Emmett grabbed her as soon as she was off the seat. Once I was out of the car I motioned for Emmett to hand her off to me. He shook his head no. He wasn't going to make this easy or simple for me.

During one of Bella's moments of consciousness, I saw her look up at Emmett confused as to why he was there. "No," she said, directly looking at Emmett. "Other one," she continued, trying to raise her hand to point at me.

I didn't even need her to lift her hand; I was already lifting her into my arms. "Told you," I answered smugly, heading for the door.

I could hear the other two muttering again. They could mutter all they wanted; I would be starting my Bella Ban tomorrow when I knew she was okay. I think it was expecting a little too much of me to put my emotions aside when Bella was in a time of need. If I had done nothing and acted distant, I would be the jackass that didn't even care that she was drugged; now, I cared too much. So whatever, I chose the option I could live with. So they could go fuck themselves if they didn't agree it was the right one.

I was about to ring the bell when dad opened the door. "I heard the commotion outside," he explained. "Is everything alright?" he asked, eying me and then looking over at the other two.

"Everything's fine; Bella's the main concern," Jasper answered.

Well that was nice to know that she _was_ a priority to them…

"Where do you want her? Your office?" I asked.

"Maybe it would be best if you put her in Rose's room. She could lie down and it would be more comfortable there," Esme suggested.

"Good idea," dad responded with a sweet smile.

All of us started up the stairs and went into Rose's room. Everything in there was so white. I was always hesitant to go in there because I didn't want to get anything dirty or mess it up. It was always in pristine condition; I didn't understand that – it had to be some female/male difference. I mean I was neat but if I had a white room there would be no end to my clean up. The room was very Rosalie: clean lines with an accented opulence – all of her accent pieces were rich reds and golds.

"Here," Alice said, holding out a cup. "We brought what was left of the flask. We had to get it away from Paul which was what took us so long," she explained.

"We weren't sure if you needed it Carlisle," Rosalie added on.

"It was wise of you to bring it girls. It will definitely help," he answered them.

I gently put Bella on the bed and tried to make her as comfortable as I could, rearranging the pillows and adding an extra blanket.

"So what, exactly, happened?" dad asked.

"She was having a conversation with all of us, but seemed out of it – like she was tired or something," Rosalie said thoughtfully. "Then she got up, took a step or two, and then collapsed."

"This had been going on for a while, though, since around the time of the contest. During our performance she looked tired and out of it as well, but I had attributed it to her performance. Throughout the party, too, her eyes seemed a bit glazed over and seemed to be getting progressively worse. She also didn't seem to really be acting like herself. This whole process – for the drug," I said through gritted teeth, "to take any sort of affect - took about an hour or so."

"And that's it?" dad asked, "Anything in the car ride?"

"She was mostly unconscious," Emmett stated. "When we tried to get her out of the car and she couldn't even hold up her head. So I think whatever's in her system has probably reached its peak."

Dad looked like he was taking that all in. His face was blank, so as to not worry us more. Though, I wish he did something that would give me a clue as to what he was thinking. He then turned his attention to Bella and started his examination. All of us just stood there watching him.

"Why don't you all go downstairs and give them some space. You all aren't going to help matters standing here and crowding the room. Once Carlisle knows exactly what's going on he'll come down and tell you," Esme said, directing us towards the door.

Rose and Jasper were the first to get out – they weren't about to disobey their very hormonal and very pregnant mother over this. Emmett and Alice hesitated a little more but when Esme continued to stare them down they followed the other two's lead. I was the only one left.

"She's going to be just fine. It would be better for the whole situation if you left and got some air; you looked stressed. Go take some time and relax," Esme said with a knowing look.

Jesus, were they all talking about this behind my back – or was Jazz just being his typical self, mama's boy through and through, and regurgitating what she told him. If only everyone who thought Jasper was so cool knew what kind of mama's boy he really was…

"Go on Edward; I'll come and get you when I know more," dad added on.

I, reluctantly, nodded my head a couple times and then proceeded out the door. Everyone else had already gone downstairs but I didn't really want to be around them. I wasn't in the mood to hear what they thought I should or shouldn't be doing, or should or shouldn't be feeling. I just headed into my room and sat down at my piano, looking for a little solace.

I didn't realize that Esme had come with me. "Are you ready for your last set of auditions," she said, changing the topic and sitting next to me on the bench.

I scooted over, to give her more room, and then focused on the keys. I started playing absentmindedly. "Sort of, but we both know this isn't about if I'm ready for my auditions," I answered her. I was tired of keeping up pretenses and playing games – if we were going to do this, I didn't want to beat around the bush.

She smiled softly and caressed her belly. "Am I that transparent? Pregnancy's got me off my game," she replied with a chuckle.

I gave her a half smile back – I could never stay mad at Esme. Well, it was more of an annoyance with the general situation. "Not transparent…" I started.

"You're just good at reading people," she finished.

I nodded in agreement because I usually was good at reading people; that little talent of mine seemed to have dwindled as of late though. "Well there is that but this topic seems to be the theme of today," I said with a tight smile.

I changed the piece I was playing to one of Esme's favorites, which I dubbed her sonata. She smiled in recognition of the tune and stroked my back in a very motherly way. "You know I'm just worried about you. You are my son, and as much as I love Bella, you're well being will always come first. And at the moment, she's not exactly treating you with the same kindness and respect you are giving her," she stated.

I looked back down at the keys. I thought of Esme as my mother as well, and in some ways she was more of a mom to me than my actual mom. And her utmost faith in my gallant behavior made me feel bad; made me feel guilty. I hadn't, exactly, done my best to be kind or respectful to Bella. For the first time, in a very long time, I felt my cheeks flush in embarrassment.

"Well no one's perfect all the time," she said, trying to comfort me. "We all slip up from time to time – I can only blame the hormones and the baby so much, sometimes I'm probably just being a bitch," she said, again with a smile, alleviating some of my guilt.

So she knew when she was being difficult and just playing it off as being "hormonal" – how sneaky!

"I know you care about her but you two just need some time apart. I think this excursion you've got planned for this week will be a good vacation from all of this. Some fun in the sun with just the boys, being miles away from Bella, Alice, your sister, and the crazy pregnant lady you've been living with for the last six and a half months," she stated.

"I believe its seven and a half mom; I guess your memory's going as well," I said with a laugh, continuing to play.

I saw that she was trying to see if I was right, counting back the months in her head. "See, you can add senile to that list as well. And thank you for the reminder. What would I do without you?" she responded back.

My playing stopped abruptly when dad walked into the room. I looked up at him with anticipation, hoping he was going to say that everything was, indeed, going to be okay.

"She's going to be fine; she just needs to sleep it off; whatever she had seemed to be in a fairly small dose. I'll be certain what it was, exactly, when I get this to the lab. Due to her size, and the fact that she probably hadn't eaten much all day, it hit her harder than it had for Jacob. I'm going to run some blood work and analyze the drink at the hospital, to hopefully get some more insight as to who did this. I'm going over to the Black's house now to check on Jacob – his father just called," he told us, though that last part seemed more directed at Esme than me.

"Seriously?" I called out, without really thinking.

He didn't need to go see that jackass. What he needed to do was go to the hospital and start the analysis on the drink. He did not need to help Jacob Black.

"Edward, I know he's done some inexcusable things to you guys but I'm a doctor. If this was for any other issue than his health you know I wouldn't interfere. But, unfortunately, it is a health issue – I have to go. And who knows, maybe he'll remember who could have done this to them," he said slightly optimistic.

Captain Compassionate strikes again…

I looked at him hesitantly; I knew he wasn't going to go until I gave him my okay. Unfortunately, I knew he was right. Just call me Captain Compassionate Jr. It was the smart and rational thing to do, but I did want to see Jake suffer… just a little bit.

"You're absolutely sure Bella will be alright and she doesn't need you right now?" I asked again.

He nodded his head. "The only side effects that she will have from all of this is a massive hangover tomorrow and maybe not remembering what exactly happened tonight – that's it. Just let her rest and sleep it off. I'll see you later. And remember, you need to pack for the trip. I'll have Emmett and Alice drive her home," he said, kissing Esme on the cheek and patting her belly before he left the room.

Esme watched him walk out the door and then turned her attention back to me. "See, nothing to worry about, like I said," she told me.

Yea, that's what she thinks; there was plenty for me to worry about.

"Darling, just take this time off to think. Sometimes we're meant to lose the people we love; it only makes us realize how much we actually care about them. This is a good thing, getting away and sorting out your feelings. Maybe she'll do the same. Go enjoy your trip and relax. Get out of that head of yours and just have fun. All these issues will be here for you when you get back. She will be here when you get back too – you can deal with all of this then," she said, giving my temple a kiss and lovingly caressing my head before she got up and left.

I had already made up my mind before this that I was going to give this space thing a shot. This little talk of ours just confirmed this more. With dad's prognosis of Bella, there was no reason to feel concerned. I couldn't' take away the guilt I felt about this situation, that if I had been around none of this would have happened – period. But there was nothing I could do about that; that was something I'd have to deal with. I wasn't going to let my guilt affect the trip. I was going to have fun and create some distance.

I'd go to Mexico and leave all this bull shit drama behind. This was my week to decompress and get away, and I planned on utilizing that to the fullest.


	33. My New Mantra

**first off, let me say sorry for taking so long but this chapter is a long one (i even had to split it up into two chapters because i thought it was getting a little too long for one chappie)**

**second, a HUGE thank you for eveyrone who's commented and reviewed. you all are awesome**

**third - check out my homepage/profile page. the second reason this chapter took so long was that i was composing a playlist to go along with it, but won't let me post the playlist link, therefore i attached all the links seperately. so check it out, it's meant to be a companion to the chapter. i know its annoying to click back and forth but i can't figure out how to post the playlist if i even can. if anyone knows, let me kow, you'd be a lifesaver!**

**fourth a big thanks to pennylane and you're awesomeness and willing to put up with me :)**

**i'll stop blabbering on, enjoy the chapter!**

BPOV

"I can't believe you managed to drag me here," I told them, putting my sunglasses on and grabbing my oversized, straw, sun hat. It was far too sunny outside and my eyes were not used to all this light since it was March and perpetually cloudy in Forks.

"This wasn't my idea," Alice responded brightly. "You were the one who said you wanted to get away."

I rolled my eyes, though no one would be able to tell behind my darkened Prada lenses. "I said I wanted to get away, maybe to LA or on a spa trip to Seattle. I did not say, 'let's go to fucking Mexico.' That was all your doing," I answered her.

Alice smirked at this and just brushed what I said off not even bothering to respond.

"Whatever, doesn't matter, we're here now. Besides, you didn't exactly object; you willingly got on the plane," Rose stated, pushing past people but trying to not touch anyone all at the same time which didn't really work.

I opened my mouth to object, since I actually _hadn't_ willingly gone along with this, but shut it again: it was pointless, I would come up with rebuttals and they would keep refuting them. They both had sprung this on me last minute and changed our "initial plans", which were most likely nonexistent, an hour before we were scheduled to leave. I should have figured they were up to something when they kept going on about the weather being warm and needing more bathing suits. But I didn't – I hadn't really given much thought to anything they said to me recently, it went in one ear and out the other; I was focused on other, more important things. With all the crap that had gone on this past week I could barely think about myself, let alone figure out the scheming ways of my best friends. I had _just_started feeling like myself again, after the whole Roofied incident – which really takes a lot out of a girl – and I wanted some time to relax. And now I was here…goodie.

"And I know you're about to say you didn't come willingly but you did. We didn't drag you kicking and screaming on to the plane – you walked on board all by yourself. So just shut your trap about how we forced you to come," Rose told me, with one of her sickeningly sweet smiles.

"Humph," I loudly exhaled, crossing my hands in front of my body, unsure of how else to respond to that comment.

"Come on Bells," Alice said excitedly, interlocking her arm with mine as we walked out the airport and into the sweltering heat. "This will be fun! We'll just sit and tan on the beach, get some massages and hang out; it'll be girl time. We'll just relax."

I'd heard that one before. "Suuuure. I'll believe that when I see it," I grumbled.

I saw Alice and Rosalie exchange glances: clearly, they were not in the mood to hear me complain…again. Well I wasn't exactly in the mood to be in Mexico either but here I was. I looked over and saw the clear blue sky and, in the distance, the beach. There were people around us excited to be there and already having a good time. And then there was me who couldn't focus on anything but the negative: I was quite the Debby Downer. I was being a pain in the ass right now; they knew it, I knew it, probably the people next to us who didn't even know me knew it. Did I really want to be an asshole throughout this entire trip?

I _had_ agreed to come on this getaway, even though I did not know what I was getting myself into, and we were only going to be here for four days – I might as well suck it up and make the most of it. Well, I could _try_to do that. I could have a good time if I let myself, maybe… There was no Edward here. There was no Jacob. It was just the girls. I could relax and soak up some sun, not concerning myself at all with either of them. Maybe this would be a good trip. It could be a time to reconnect with the girls. I had put distance between us over the last three weeks and I didn't want there to be any of that between us. I knew I had been snippy with them but Alice and Rose knew I wasn't really directing my irritation at them, just in their general direction. So this trip could be a chance for me to get things back on track – it was like a renewal of our friendship. Now that didn't sound lame or anything, even though that's kinda what this was. I would give this trip a chance, or I would do my damndest to at least look like I was.

"So where to first? Where's the hotel?" I said with a little enthusiasm – this was the most I'd shown since any of this initially happened. It wasn't much, but it was the most I could muster at the moment; it was a step in the right direction. Hopefully, they would get the picture that I was trying to get on board with this trip.

"We've got a private residence right on the beach…" Alice said pleasantly, plastering on a fake smile for some reason.

"_What?_!" Rose said, taken aback. "You said you would handle this."

Well, all the fakeness Alice had exhibited was now explained – she was trying to keep the beast calm.

"I did… Well I tried," Alice snapped back, dropping the nice act. "They said we had it, but then something else came up. A bigger party needed it or something and then the rest were booked. I just think someone bribed them to get their way – fuckers. I refused to take another room so I made reservations elsewhere. But since I bitched so much and to enough people we got a compted stay for another time," she answered, pleased with herself over this last part. Even though Alice had more than enough money to pay for things, she delighted when she got things for free.

"But I _only_stay at the Villa Cortez – I _told_ you that. They know me there by name. We _should_ have gotten the room. If _I_had dealt with them this wouldn't have happened," Rose commented, growing more annoyed with each comment she made, as we got into our chauffeured blue Escalade.

This would be never ending if I didn't intervene and if they kept going at it I knew I would sink back into my old, mopey self. "So where are we going?" I asked Alice, trying to end the bickering.

"It's not far. We should be there fairly soon, right senor?" Alice stated, directing the last part of her sentence to our driver.

"Ah, si, si," our jovial driver responded back, "no time at all."

"Well, what do you want to do when we get there Rose?" I asked her, looking out the window at the sights. I hadn't been to Cabo in a very long time, probably since junior high.

"I don't fucking care," she pouted, crossing her arms in a huff.

"Stop acting like a damn two year old," Alice scolded. "The nice senor here is going to think we're a bunch of spoiled brats, pouting over not being able to get into the five star resort of our choice. Pardone moi," she said to the driver.

Our driver responded back with a kind smile.

"Idiot, c'est Français," Rosalie retorted with a snort.

"Whatever, he still got the point," Alice snapped back at Rose.

"Si, I speak a little of everything. Bonjour: French. Hola: Spanish. Gutentag: German. Yassou: Greek. Mire, a little of everything," the driver said, smile beaming.

"So you do," I told him with a sincere smile back.

I liked our driver. He was probably in his fifties, small, a little round, very tan and had a kind and weathered face. And he seemed to pick up on things relatively fast, noting the tenseness in the car and trying to keep the tone light. We would need to ask for him again when we went places because I had a feeling that the Alice and Rose show was going to be like this the entire time we were here.

Alice smiled as well. Even Rose cracked a small smile at his response.

"So, what else do you speak?" Rose asked, intrigued by the little man.

"Some Chinese, Nǐ hǎo, and Italian, Ciao; see, I'm very international," he replied back with a laugh.

"So I see," she said with a laugh.

"What brings such gupas senoritas to Mexico?" he asked in his thick accent.

"We needed some fun in the sun; it's always cloudy where we live so we needed to get away," Alice responded, cheering up a bit as she talked to Gustavo.

"Ah ha, that explains why you're all so pale!" he exclaimed with a hearty laugh, causing the rest of us to laugh right along with him. "Go to la playa as soon as you possible; you look like aliens, everyone has a tan here! Es necesario."

The three of us exchanged looks and tried to contain our laughter. He was a riot!

"Que es tu nombre?" Alice asked.

"Bien! Your accent is fantastic," he replied.

Little did he know that when Alice was younger she had an Ecuadorian nanny and has been speaking Spanish for the last 10 years. She just smiled a polite thank you.

"My name is Gustavo," he said, taking off his fisherman hat with his free hand to formally introduce himself.

"Well, this is Rosalie and Alice. And I'm Bella. Nice to meet you," I told him.

"Igualmente," he replied back. "We're here!" he announced.

We all looked around, not really sure what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised. It was beautiful: very clean looking in all white, with a lavish garden and fountain in the entrance, and very spacious. It would be fine for the weekend; it should have met all of Rosalie's standards. We got out of the car, grabbing our bags and paying Gustavo, before heading to the reception area.

"Gracias!" I called out to him with a wave.

"De nada, de nada. I'll see you soon. Have a great time and don't forget to get a tan!" he called out before driving away.

A bellhop greeted us and took our bags as we headed inside. I glanced over to Rose to see her reaction. She did not look happy: she had a scowl on her face as soon as we entered the lobby and looked as if she would tear someone's head off if they said anything to her.

"Welcome," the lady behind the counter greeted us warmly. "Do you have a reservation?" she asked.

"Yes, it's under Brandon," I heard Alice say as I went to the reception area to sit down with Rosalie who looked like she was inspecting every crevice of the resort.

"Rose, chill out, this place looks fantastic," I told her quietly as someone came by with flutes of champagne.

"No thank you," I told the waiter with a small smile.

Rose looked confused and then grabbed another flute. "I'll take hers," she explained curtly. "What's up with the non-drinking; you love champagne," she asked.

"Carlisle said to lay low – so I'm doing just that," I told her.

She rolled her eyes. "He cleared you to basically do whatever you want – including drinking. You've been sitting around, not doing much of anything for the last week, aren't you bored yet? Don't you want to have some fun?" she asked.

I knew what she was implying: I'd been a pain in the ass for the last couple of weeks and she didn't want me to ruin our vacation. And, to answer her question, no, I really wasn't tired of just sitting around and moping but I wasn't going to ruin our trip. I said I was going to make the most of it and I intended to stick to that – even if my heart wasn't really in it.

"I'm planning on having a good time but I want to lay low for a bit to acclimate. Is that alright with you? Later on, I'll take part in any activity you would like me to," I retorted.

She looked at me skeptically and drank her champagne. "_Any_ activity?" she asked with a mischievous smile.

"You guys ready to go?" Alice asked, a little too enthusiastically.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked immediately, concerned.

"Why do you assume that something is wrong?" Alice asked, snapping back at her.

"Um, because I know you and you're never this enthusiastic about anything unless you're covering something up, so just spill it. What's screwed up now?" Rose asked, annoyed, downing her glass and starting on mine.

Alice hesitated, trying to figure out the best route to take in her explanation. "Nothing's really wrong; we're just not getting the room that I thought we were. We're…" she started.

Rosalie threw up her hands, spilling a little of her champagne. "Of course were not. Big surprise there," she exclaimed, making a little bit of a scene.

"Calm down. If you let me finish, I would explain that we're not getting the private residence here either but the _presidential_ suite instead. It's got everything and more; apparently it's a lot harder to get one of these than the private residences," she explained, trying to placate Rosalie. "We've got everything: a private entrance, our own infinity pool, a butler on call 24/7, a dining room, the whole nine yards. It's even better for Bella because there's more privacy; in fact, that's one of the reasons they upgraded us."

"Well, the presidential suite sounds great. Let's go, I want to change and take a quick shower before heading down to the pool or whatever it is we're doing today," I told them.

Alice looked relieved when I seemed to side with her – that she had an ally in this whole resort debacle. "Great, let's go," she said. "Oh is this one for me?" she asked Rose, glancing at the champagne flute.

"No, they're both mine," she said, finishing off that flute as well. "At least they gave us good champagne.

We walked towards the suite – the two of them bickering away in front of me on everything ranging from the hotel to the champagne to the current temperature. Well, this was the perfect start to a relaxing trip… Though, it was somewhat comforting because this was exactly how they interacted with each other at home, before all Edward bull shit went down. When I started retreating and shutting down, they tried to keep everything calm and even keel around me – they weren't really acting like themselves. At least they now felt comfortable to be themselves again.

"I'm just gonna rinse off; I'll be out in a minute," I called out, walking into the nearest bathroom and locking the door behind me, before they had a chance to respond.

I took a peek around the bathroom before I jumped into the shower. There was a Jacuzzi tub and huge vanity sink, as well a shower with two heads that doubled as a steam room with a gorgeous view of the ocean.

The shower took seconds to heat up. I inhaled the warm steam and tried to relax; this small time of being happy, happy with the girls had, already, drained me – it was going to be a feat to keep this up for the entire time we were here. This would be my only time to take easy; somewhere where I didn't have to keep up this façade. I knew I wasn't helping matters; that if I just told them what had happened they would understand why I hadn't just snapped back to normal. But I didn't want to bring it up and I didn't want to discuss that – if I even could in a sane, rational, and cohesive manner. I just wanted to enjoy this trip as much as I could; I mean that's why they planned this. I might as well try to be a good sport and go along with it; even if I wasn't really feeling up to it.

Before I knew it, my uber quick shower was done with and I was getting ready to go back and join Alice and Rose. I looked at myself at in the mirror, plastering a fake smile across my lips – I needed to practice. Smiling felt so foreign to me now, like it was something I did in another life but now, not after everything I had recently gone through. Ugh, that didn't feel right. The corners of my mouth dropped, so now it was a small grin, or more of a grimace – this I might be able to manage.

"So what should I change into?" I asked loudly, uncertain of where exactly they were.

The room was gigantic – then again, what else should I have expected from the presidential suite? There were three separate bedrooms with their own bathrooms, a separate communal bathroom, a fully stocked kitchen and bar, dining room and living room which opened out to our own infinity pool and private entrance to the beach with our own cabana. This place was amazing – if I couldn't cheer up here I couldn't cheer up anywhere.

"A bathing suit that you can move around in and a cover up," Alice answered from some unknown location.

Well that was vague. "Any other specifics?" I asked looking around to see if I could figure out where she was.

"Be able to move in it – that is all. The rest is a surprise," she yelled. "And, more importantly, we need to be out of this room in literally three minutes, so hurry. You hear that Rose?"

"Uh huh," Rose muttered loudly.

I went back in the bedroom I had claimed and looked for my luggage. I found it in the corner where Alice or the bellhop had put it and scrounged through it to find something acceptable to wear. I went for my most practical bathing suit, a bright turquoise bandeau top with gold metal links in the front and cheeky boy shorts, that I could basically do anything in. This thing was the most amazing suit I had ever owned – I could do back flips in it and it wouldn't even budge. I paired it with a multicolored caftan, straw hat, sunglasses and a crazy amount of sunscreen. Back in LA I never had to use this much sunscreen; I mean I was fair but I could soak up some rays without having to reapply every 10 minutes – cloudy ass Forks had screwed me over in this department and had lowered my sun tolerance. Another point for LA.

I strolled out to the front room, plopped down on the couch and waited for the other two to emerge.

Alice was the next one to come out. She was wearing a black and white paisley printed bikini which looked adorable on her. "Cute Bells," she complemented me. "Rosalie hurry up! We have to be out there by eleven!" she yelled, grabbing bottles of water from the fridge and putting them into her bag.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Rose answered her, coming out of the furthest room.

"I thought you said we should be able to move in it…" I said sarcastically, looking at her tiny, white bikini. Her bathing suit was great; it just looked like any small movement she'd make would cause a boob to pop out.

"This _is_ the bathing suit I can move the most in," she replied. "Were we supposed to be nuns on this trip or something, cause I didn't get that memo."

Alice took a look at her and shook her head. "Whatever, we don't have time for you to change or find something a little more appropriate. But I did tell you to bring a suit you could be active in," she lectured trying to hurry us out the door.

"The only physical activity I'm planning on doing is this one," she said, making a drinking motion with her hand.

"Let's just go," Alice said, holding the door open so we could leave.

We made our way down the pathway from our suite to where the rest of the rooms were and found a little golf cart waiting for us. Rosalie, instantly, made an effort to get to the driver's seat but Alice beat her to it.

"You said we need to get there in a hurry; I should drive then," Rose reasoned, trying to maneuver into the driver's seat.

"I said we need to get there in a hurry but I really don't feel like dying today. Besides, this thing doesn't even have seat belts and I don't trust your driving in something so open and easily flipped…" Alice retorted, semi kidding but mostly serious.

"This thing tops out at 45 miles per hour – there's nothing to worry about," Rose answered.

"Case in point: the fact that you know what speed this thing tops out at definitely means you won't be driving it," I interjected, with a small laugh getting into the front seat.

Alice grinned triumphantly. I could almost see the mental check mark Alice was making in her column: 1 Alice, 0 Rosalie.

"And I'm in the bitch seat? Assholes," she grumbled, getting into the back.

We drove down the scenic little road for a little while before we came to a private pier with a huge docked yacht. Then it all clicked: we were going on the boat for the rest of the day.

"Surprise!" Alice exclaimed, excited; she could barely contain herself. "We know how you've never been on yacht since Renee gets seasick, so we thought, there was no better time than the present!"

That was true; my family usually avoided water and swaying motions because both Mike and mom got seasick, _very_ easily. We learned that the hard way one time at Disneyland on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. As soon as we got on that damn boat and it started rocking Mike threw up, followed by mom. And the best part was that we couldn't get off the boat was until the ride finished because there was no way to get the boats back to the loading zone from where we were at. That _truly_ made it the happiest place on Earth… Dad and I were both immune to seasickness but since the other two were so sensitive we tried to stay clear of all things water.

"We're having lunch on the boat, doing some sightseeing, jet skiing, snorkeling – the works," Alice continued, still teeming with excitement.

"That sounds great," I said with a smile – a smile that I was not faking, which kind of surprised me.

It was surprising how naturally this smile came to me; maybe the practicing in the mirror had helped? Every other smile I had, had over the past two weeks was forced and contrived but this one just came so easily. Why was that? Maybe this trip was just what I needed. Or maybe I just wanted to go on a boat. Rose finally looked pleased as well; I guess the yacht, and probably its size, met her standards.

We boarded the boat and were served lunch as we sailed out to sea. We saw all the different sites of Cabo: the different caves and rock formations, other parts of the city, and even some dolphins. We cliff jumped, we snorkeled, we tanned, and we jet skied – we did it all. And throughout the day it was all laughs and a carefree attitude. There was even minimal mopiness on my part. All this and Rose's boobs never even popped out once, which was even more impressive. I had a great time which, again, surprised me. Getting away from the shore and just being at sea seemed to put my mind to rest. I didn't worry about any of my problems; at sea, it was like I was at one with nature – it was a very hippie/kumbaya moment for me.

After about seven hours at sea, we were coming back to shore. I didn't want to come back; I liked being on the water but, at the same time, I was exhausted and could feel the crankiness setting in. Seven hours in the scorching sun and traveling – I was pooped. As we began the docking process I noticed that we weren't the only yacht at the harbor now; there was another ship there and it was even bigger than ours.

I took in the sheer size of this thing – it was enormous. I glanced at Rose and Alice who looked like they were doing the exact same thing. Rose looked like she was in awe of the yacht while Alice seemed as if she was trying to figure something out.

"Does that look familiar to you?" she asked us, not taking her eyes off the ship.

Both of us shook our heads. She then proposed the same question to the crew who responded the same way that we had. This didn't stop Alice from inquiring more, though. When the crew didn't know, she searched out the captain – who we had yet to see the whole time – to see if he knew who those people were and how they got that yacht. Alice's tenacity never ceased to amaze me. I assumed that the resort told her that she had gotten the largest yacht, which was why she was so hell bent of figuring out who was on that ship.

"Why the hell is she so interested in this?" Rose asked.

"Why does Alice do _anything_? Because she's Alice and needs to know everything about everyone at all times," I replied, causing Rosalie to laugh.

Alice came down from the upper portion of the ship frowning. "He didn't know anything either – aside from that they were with the wedding party," she stated.

"God damn wedding; they get everything," Rose grumbled, narrowing her eyes at them.

We finally finished docking and made our way down the pier, which happened to coincide with the people on the large yacht boarding.

"Oh shit," Alice exclaimed, stopping in her tracks behind us.

Rose and I turned to look at her. She looked totally taken aback.

"Alice?" a tall, dark and handsome guy in his early twenties called out to her, with a grin playing across his lips as he briefly checked Rosalie and me out.

"Demitri," Alice said with feigned enthusiasm and plastering the fakest smile I'd ever seen her give someone on her face.

"Should we know who this fucker is?" Rose stated, disinterested.

Alice elbowed her in the side to shut her up. "He's our cousin," she whispered out of the side of her mouth while waving to him. "He picks up on everything, so watch what you say," she said in a more singsong voice as he got closer. "That's why this place sounded so familiar when I was making reservations; it was on the invitation to his dad's wedding. This is the wedding party in the residences."

She looked like she would have explained more but he had already caught up with us.

This Demitri was definitely attractive but looked a grade A douche – though that could have just been the European vibe. "Hey Cuzo," he greeted Alice, giving her a kiss on each cheek – the entire time he was checking out Rose.

How very European…

"Are you going to introduce me to your gorgeous friends or do I have to do that myself?" he asked Alice in a tone that sounded like a genuine compliment but knew this line had been practiced on numerous women before.

I could see Rosalie rolling her eyes as the words left her mouth. Subtle Rose, _reallll_ subtle.

"Well, this is Rosalie. You've met her before at Uncle Carlisle's wedding – she's Esme's daughter, so you're cousins too. And this is Bella. She's basically family too; the sister I never had but always wanted," Alice explained, shooting me a smile and trying to drive the point home that we were off limits.

"Nice to meet you both, or rather, to meet you again," he said, the last part directed at Rosalie giving her a wink.

Rose just nodded her head with a tight smile. Everyone could tell that she was over this who introduction thing. That was Rose; love her or hate her; at least you knew where you stood with her.

"Hi," I replied, disinterested as well, but much more cordial than Rose. All I wanted right now was to order some room service and go to bed.

"Are you guys here for the wedding? I didn't think you or Uncle Carlisle were going to be able to make it," he inquired, not that he seemed like he actually cared about her response but that he just wanted to keep the conversation going.

Alice thought about this for a moment – she didn't want to say the wrong thing or out the fact that, apparently, their family just didn't want to go. "No," she said with a pause, still thinking. "This was merely coincidental; this trip was _very_spur of the moment. Mom and dad are away on business; I was supposed to go with them, but some things came up so I decided to stay home. So the girls and I came down here for a little R&R. And Carlisle and Esme can't go anywhere, since Esme's seven months preggers and there's that no fly rule. Besides, I'm not so sure pregnancy and Mexico are such a great idea," she responded, as cautiously and diplomatically as she could.

Not wanting to prolong this unwanted encounter anymore, I jumped in. "Well, it was really nice to meet you, but we better be off; we've had a really long day…" I started, hinting that this family reunion was over.

"Thanks for leaving me with all the cougs asshole. All of Gianna's friends are about to pounce," another male voice called out. He looked to be a little shorter than Demitri and younger but they shared the same dark brown hair, blue eyes and olive complexion. He was better looking than Demitri but didn't carry the same know-it-all swagger which was a big plus in my book.

"Alec?" Alice called out, this time legitimately excited.

"Alice?" Alec responded, surprised. "What the hell are you doing here? How long has it been?" he said coming down the pier.

"Too long," Alice replied as he picked her up and hugged. "If you guys weren't in Italy all the time, maybe we'd see you more."

"It's London now – we moved a couple months ago," he corrected with a smile.

"But it'll be back to the compound for the summer to stay with mom," Demitri interjected with a smile, trying to not so subtlety throw in there their status.

Compound? Rosalie and I exchanged glances. Who the hell were these guys?

"Andiamo bambinos," an older female voice called from the boat.

Alec signaled to them that they were coming. "Why don't you guys come with us on the boat; they'd love you see you Alice, it's been such a long time. We can catch up," he suggested.

I didn't even need to look at Alice to know she was all for this. If this had been Demitri's suggestion we would have been in the clear and on our way back to the room right now. But since this was Alec's suggestion this invitation was open for consideration.

I gave a sideways glance to Rose to see which way she was leaning - and it was to that damn boat. As soon as she set eyes on that beast of a boat, her eyes had lit up: the sheer enormity and opulence of it enticed her. Apparently, size mattered to her… but we already knew that. Now that an invitation had been extended to actually go on that thing, I knew I was out voted. There would be no room service and no relaxing – I'd need to be "on" for the rest of the damn night.

"That sounds much better than just hanging out in the room and watching TV," Rose stated.

I, on the other hand, thought that sounded like heaven.

"How long will you guys be out? And don't you think that we're somewhat under dressed?" Alice stated, shooting me a quick glance.

Bless her; at least she was checking in with me instead of just doing what she wanted to do. She made sure that I was okay with this before giving them a definite answer and throwing me to the wolves so to speak. But I knew that Alice wanted to visit with her family and Rose was practically chomping at the bit to just get on the yacht. I wouldn't ruin this for them – I, begrudgingly, went along with it.

"It's just a sunset dinner ride, shouldn't be more than an hour or two. And you guys look great, way better than what everyone else is wearing up there. This isn't a formal thing, just a pre-pre wedding get together. The majority of the guests are coming in tomorrow and the next day, so this is just the immediate family and close friends," Demitri explained.

Sure, one or two hours, that's what they say now, but I went along with it. "What are we waiting for?" I dryly stated. Both Alice and Rose looked elated that I had agreed to this. As my mantra would be for this trip: I would not ruin this trip – so I went along with the program.

They all made their way towards the yacht quickly as I dragged behind.

"And your name, I didn't quite catch it. Or more, I never properly introduced myself: I'm Alec Cullen," he said politely.

"Bella Swan," I said matter-of-factly, "Nice to meet you."

Five more hours on this boat, a four course meal, and an unknown number of bottles of champagne drank and we were finally docking. The evening on the boat hadn't been that bad, it wasn't good, but not bad. I had just been quiet. I mostly kept to myself, laughing when everyone else did, sipping when everyone else did, but not really contributing anything to the conversation and just mimicking what the others were doing. Growing up in this world I learned early on that as long as you went along with the program, drinking and laughing at the appropriate times people, generally, left you alone. Alec and Demitri would occasionally say something to me and I would reply politely back but that was it. I hoped it didn't look like I was being rude or that I wasn't having a good time but at the same time I didn't really care if it looked that way or not. I was going along with what Rose and Alice wanted to do; I didn't have to be happy about it, especially five hours later when it was only supposed to be two. We were now, finally, on our way back to the room.

"So we'll see you guys when you get back from the manly fishing trip," Alice said with a laugh.

"Ugh, don't remind us. We're dreading going on that," Alec stated.

"What, smelling like fish for three days straight isn't high on your list of things to do?" I commented, groggily not even realizing what I said.

"Wow, she speaks," Demitri teased, feigning shock.

Everyone else laughed at this; I, on the other hand, did not think it was that funny. Then again, I also, wasn't as drunk as everyone else either. I maybe had a glass or two of champagne while the others were drinking it like it was water. I knew I was fine to drink, Carlisle had cleared me, but I guess I was still being cautious from the last time.

"Ha, ha; _very_ funny," I replied, shuffling through the sand.

"Is everything alright?" Alec asked me, concerned, as the other three kept pace with each other walking towards the room on the beach.

I scrunched my forehead – I was much too tired to be dealing with people attempting to flirt with me right now. "Yea, I'm fine," I said curtly.

His demeanor changed with this and he seemed to shut right up. He looked down at the sand and walked in silence.

I felt bad for my abruptness; that was uncalled for, it wasn't his fault I was dragged onto the boat and away from my bed. "Sorry, that was rude," I apologized, "but I'm fine."

He gave me a small smile, a way of showing that he accepted my apology. "You didn't really seem to be enjoying yourself, though. You barely said two sentences the entire night and barely drank," he said.

"I thought your brother was supposed to be the perceptive one?" I joked, trying to shift the topic of focus away from me.

He laughed at this, a deep chuckle. "Well, he's a little more open about his observations and displaying his perceptiveness – I keep what I notice to myself."

"I see," I answered with a tight smile. "So what exactly did you observe tonight?" I asked, curious as to what someone who didn't know me thought.

"Hmmm…" he said pursing his lips, squinting his one eye and scratching his chin as if he was thinking.

When he did this he looked a lot like somebody else I knew, but I pushed that thought out of my head. It wasn't that they looked alike, not at all in fact aside from their height though _he_ was taller, but their mannerisms were similar. And their bone structure was sort of similar as well… No, no, this had to get out of my head – I did not want to be making comparisons. I forced myself to stay in the moment and listen to what he had to say.

"Well, you definitely were reserved tonight, as if something was bothering you. I wouldn't say you were uncomfortable but if you could have chosen anywhere to be in the world at that moment, it wouldn't have been on the yacht," he stated.

"That's obvious. I told you guys I was tired, and really, I'm exhausted. I'm surprised I haven't curled up on one of these loungers and just gone to sleep," I replied, trying to keep it light and causal.

"Oh, you want something a little more depth?" he asked with a laugh, a little surprised that I was going along with this.

"Lay it on me," I told him with a straight face.

"Alright," he said, this time becoming straight faced and no longer joking. "Something's gone on with you recently. Rosalie and Alice kept checking in on you throughout the night to make sure that you were okay – almost in a mothering way. On top of that, you just seem… sad. Not that you're depressed or anything but that you're not quite happy; you want to be, but you're not. You seem like you're trying so hard to make everyone believe you. Just be yourself," he said, that last part touching me on the small of my back to reinforce the point.

I wish it was that easy to just be myself and be better…

"So how did I do?" he asked a small crooked grin across his lips.

And there it was, another reminder - that one I couldn't hide from; a reminder of Edward. Their smile was just too similar, almost uncanny. I stumbled in the sand. I looked at Alec dazed for a little bit, uncertain of how to react. I blinked a couple times, which somehow brought be back to the conversation but still not really there. "Yea… Yea, you're close," I told him, trembling slightly, but trying to keep that hidden.

"Alecko, come on! We've gotta be up at 4 to be on that fucking boat and I need my beauty rest," Demitri yelled at his brother.

"See you on Friday," Alec said before running to catch up with his brother.

I trudged up the beach and the pathway to get to our suite. The other two were already inside and curled up on the couch with a blanket waiting for me.

"So did you guys have a nice night? Did you have fun?" I asked them, trying to keep my eyes open.

They nodded, Alice yawning which caused Rose to yawn a couple seconds afterward.

"Do you guys want to stay up?" I asked with a smile but hoping that they just wanted to go to bed.

"I think its bed time – today was a really long day," Rosalie stated.

"I 100% agree with you. I'll see you guys in the morning," I told quickly, in case they changed their minds, and hurried into my room – I couldn't wait to change into my pjs. "And guys," I said pausing in front of my doorway, "thanks for dragging me down here. Today was a great day," I told them sincerely.

I saw them both, groggily, nod their heads with a smile as they walked into their room. I looked at my bed; if I could, I would have jumped with excitement. This was what I had wanted to do five hours ago and it was finally happening. Sleep! I quickly changed and threw on the robe that was on the back of my door. Within a matter of minutes of getting on my bed I was fast asleep, but not without the memories of a certain crooked smile haunting my dreams.

"What do you mean I _can't_book the VIP table? Yesterday you said I could. Figure it out," Alice ordered, slamming the phone down. "Un-fucking-believable; we got blocked again. Someone keeps going to all the same damn places we do – or at least want to go! Well this time it's not happening, I'm not changing our plans to accommodate these fuckers. This means war!"

"Bastardos!" Rosalie exclaimed watching the TV.

"Maybe it's the wedding party," I suggested.

"No, they're planning on going somewhere else," Alice stated. "Maybe somebody's out to get us," she pondered aloud.

"Dios mio!" Rose interjected, slightly worried.

"Stop watching the damn tele novellas," I snapped at her – the Spanish was really starting to get on my nerves.

"Sientanse puta," she replied back, flipping me off.

With that I went over, took the remote from her, turned off the TV and flipped her off. "You're viewing privileges are now revoked," I scolded. "You've been watching those things since we've got here; I'm cutting you off."

The phone rang again. Alice immediately picked up. "You got it? Perfect. Thank you so much for all your help. And we have the whole area right? Perfecto, gracias," she told the operator over the phone.

"I got it! Me – I'm amazing! Ha, in your face suckas! Eat it bitches!" Alice exclaimed, doing a little happy dance in the kitchen.

"You do realize you're talking to yourself right? And that you are beyond thrilled that you beat out some random, possibly nonexistent, people that you think are supposedly out to get us," I proposed to her, with an amused smirk.

"I'm aware," she beamed, grinning ear to ear basking in her victory high.

"Just checking," I answered her with a laugh.

There was then a knock on the door. "Housekeeping?" a high pitched male voice called out.

"No thank you," Alice said opening the door. "You guys better not smell like fish or you're not coming," she told them with disdain.

"Squeaky clean and ready to go; want to smell me?" Demitri replied, in a way that was supposed to come out cutesy but, instead, came off a bit doucey. "Are you guys ready?"

She rolled her eyes, slapping him in the back of his head as her response to his first question. "Yup," Alice said, answering the second. She was wearing a boatnecked, asymmetrically hemmed, silk micro mini dress with a brown, tan and red tribal print. She basically threw it on and was ready to go.

"You're _actually_ ready? That really is shocking," Alec teased. Alice just glowered at him.

"What about you?" Demitri asked Rosalie.

"Si senor," she said, finally getting off the couch. She wore short, black, leather shorts and an ecru colored racerback tank that plunged low in the front and, basically, exposed her entire back.

"And Ms. Swan, what about you?" Alec asked.

"But of course; I was ready before the other two," I answered, wearing a flowy, royal blue, mini Halston Heritage.

Actually, that was something we all had in common – the flowiness of our selected outfit- that, and a great pair of killer stilettos. It was just too hot and humid to wear anything tight and clingy. I had considered wearing something more fitted but after I put it on and started sweating a minute after I put it on, I opted for something a bit more light and breezy.

"Very nice, you all look stunning," Demitri stated, not particularly paying attention to any of our outfits before he said that.

"Then, let's go; we've got a tequila tasting to get to – and that stuff isn't going to drink itself," Alice announced.

"Vamanos!" Rose exclaimed.

"That hasn't gotten annoying or anything," Alice said dryly.

"Has she already started drinking?" Demitri asked me in a whisper.

I couldn't help but laugh. "If only that was the reason, we could expect it to stop when she sobered up. But no, unfortunately, this is due to watching telenovelas for the last two days; she's a little obsessed," I explained.

"No soy," she replied, walking out the door.

"NO COMPRENDO!" I yelled at her, laughing, as we walked down the hall.

The five of us made our way to the tasting room, walking on the paved road instead of walking on the beach, due to our heels. The tasting room was in the cellar, or what they called the cellar, because it still had a view of the water which I didn't think any other "cellar" I ever encountered before had. It was a beautiful room decked out in darkened teak, a coral and antler chandelier and was brightly lit with lots of candles and the bright moonlight that came in from the opened doors which led to the beach. This would be the perfect room for the wedding – it was just so romantic.

"You will be drinking tonight, right Bella? Hopefully, you'll be participating in this," Alec asked.

"Of course she will; tequila just happens to be her drink of choice," Rose answered for me, settling down at the table.

They ignored what she said and directed their attention to me to see if I was going to go along with what Rose had said – which I was. I had treaded lightly the past couple of days, still letting myself recuperate and feel more comfortable with the idea of drinking again. I mean, it made sense that I'd be skeptical to just starting drinking again, I mean someone _did_Roofie me for God's sake. I wasn't giving up drinking forever and tonight would be the perfect night to get back into the habit; a trial run or sorts. Besides, I highly doubted that anyone in this room had been the perpetrator of drugging me, so we were in the clear. I nodded my head to show that I agreed with Rosalie's statement.

"Alright then; Bells, show 'em how it's done," Alice stated, cheering me on.

"Does that sound like a challenge to you? Cause that sounds a little bit like a challenge to me," Demitri commented to his brother, giving him a smug smile. "Keep in mind that we've been drinking since we were old enough to walk – we are European after all," he said condescendingly to me.

"You're only half, calm your ass down," Alice teased, dismissing his comment.

"Let's just see who's standing by the end of the night," I replied confidently, a little surprised by my bravado; that had been missing for the last three weeks.

I hadn't had much to say recently and definitely nothing that was this bold and challenging. I mostly kept to myself and went along with the program. I went with the flow but didn't contribute much. Like I had said, countless times before, I wasn't going to ruin the trip and keeping my mouth shut was probably the best way to keep things going smoothly.

"Are you all ready?" the bartender asked us in English with a thick Mexican accent.

"Bring it," Alice responded while staring her cousins down; she was in it to win it.

And so it began. White tequila, gold tequila, flavored tequila, aged tequila…and the list went on and on. After a certain point I lost track of what we were drinking but I kept on sipping what was put in front of me. With tequilas like this you didn't slam them back but sipped and enjoyed the rich and complex flavors. Oh Jesus, I sounded like dad talking about his beloved scotches – kill me now. I thought you weren't supposed to start turning into your parents until you were in your forties and you had become the parent?

After two hours of drinking and a whole meal of appetizers so we wouldn't be completely shit faced before we left, we were finally ready to head out to the club. I was feeling good and having a great time. I wasn't drunk, unlike Demitri who was slurring his words and had totally forgetting that he and Rose were related, I was just comfortable.

"Are you guys ready to head out?" Alice asked. "We've got VIP!" she exclaimed clapping her hands in excitement like she was a two year old who just got a lollipop.

The boys looked at each other like they would have been shocked if we reserved anything _other_ than that.

"It's a _looooong_ story involving one of Alice's conspiracy theories – don't ask," I told them.

The two of them exchanged a look and laughed, as if this wasn't the first time they'd heard of Alice's crazy ass theories.

"It's really not that long," Rosalie interjected, "she thinks someone's out to get us. End of story."

Everyone laughed at her breakdown of the theory, including Alice. She knew she had concocted her fair amount of stupid ideas over the years.

"Alecko, call the car so that we can go," Demitri instructed.

"Don't worry about it; _our_ driver's already on his way," Rose answered.

"Is it Gustavo?" I asked.

"But of course daaawling," Rose replied, using yet another one of her bad accents; the only accent's she's good at are the languages that she actually speaks – she should get that by now.

"So I've got a question," I asked the boys.

"Shoot," Demitri responded.

"Why do you call him Alecko?" I inquired.

"It's a nickname," Alec explained. "It's much better than his – which is Demi."

"WAIT!" Rose, called out trying not to spit out the gulp of tequila she just drank. She looked like she could barely contain herself with the mention of this. "As in Moore? So you're a woman? It's _all_ making sense now," she teased, trying as hard as she could to keep a straight face.

"No, it's got more of an e sound: Deeemi, get it?" Demitri explained, not finding her comment as hilarious as she did.

"Okay, sure," she said, mockingly.

"It's a Greek thing – mom came up with it; or more, everyone on the island came up with it. It's a pretty common nickname around there," Alec explained.

"That's where they grew up… well there and everywhere else," Alice interjected.

"So that's where the accent's from," I said, finally pleased I had figured it out. That had been bugging me since I first met them; I couldn't quiet place where they were from.

"Maybe… we moved around a lot as kids but Oinousses was our home base. Even when mom and dad separated they wanted us to have some place that we could call home. We've lived almost everywhere, especially since we also went to boarding school in the Swiss Alps, so the accents probably a mixture of all of that," Alec clarified.

"Mom was a big stickler for us having a normal and grounded childhood – which is why I'm such a down to earth person now," Demitri told Rosalie, trying to impress her and make himself look better.

"Yes, I can totally tell you're the typical boy next door," she joked dryly.

"I'm surprised you even noticed an accent, most people don't," Alec told me.

"Well, I'm not most people," I replied back in a flirtatious tone.

Alice's eyes widened in surprise when she heard this; she quickly glanced over at me, flashing me a confused look.

Wait, was I flirting with Alec? Was I _trying_ to flirt with him? It had to have been the alcohol because I did not want to be flirting with anyone for a very long time – least of all another Cullen.

"That's for damn sure," he whispered in my ear as he made his way over to the bar.

I could feel myself flush a little bit with this. It was nice to be complimented and appreciated; it was very nice.

"Come on, let's do another before we go," he said motioning with his head for me to join him at the bar.

I smiled and nodded. The bartender lined it up and I threw it back: two shots, one after the other.

"The car's here," Rose announced.

"Come on, one for the road – everyone over here now!" I ordered, calling everyone to the bar one last time.

"How many are you up to?" Alice asked me quietly.

I didn't know if she was just checking in with me or if she was checking up on me – there was a big difference between the two. It sort of sounded like she was checking up on me and I didn't like that. One minute she wants me to be the back to normal and in "typical" Bella behavior, throwing back shots and being the life of the party, and the next she's babying me and weary of what I might do. Well it can't be both ways. I was feeling like the old me tonight; the me before all this bullshit went down, before that fuckface came back to town, and I _liked_ it. I had no worries, no drama; my biggest worry was just where I was going to have a good time and I wanted to keep up that mentality.

Right now, I was seven shots in and there was literally nothing on my mind – it was just a groggy jumble of bliss. There were no stresses or concerns; I wasn't even pretending to have a good time, I just was. Maybe it was the alcohol that was clouding my capacity to think – no, to feel – but that was alright. This was what I wanted and something I needed: a vacation from myself.

"About the same as you," I told her. "I'm good Alice – don't worry," I said a little more seriously.

She gave me a look but became distracted when Rose shook her head, as if directing her to just let me be. Again, this didn't look like this was a friend helping me out; there seemed to be an ulterior meaning behind this. What the hell did that mean? Were they talking about me behind my: well that was probably a given due to my recent behavior but that didn't make it okay. Whatever, they could keep their secrets; I didn't want to have to think about that either.

"Salud," Rose said, lifting her glass and toasting.

When the shots were finished we jetted off to the car.

"Hello again!" Gustavo greeted us. "I see you bellezas have some company," he commented, concern in his voice but with a smile still on his face.

"No, it's not like that – they're our cousins," Alice explained.

"Ahh," he nodded, his expression softening and going back to the carefree driver we met our first day there. "See you got a tan, you look even better than before," he told us with a warm smile.

"What can we say, you were right," Rosalie answered him.

His phone rang and we broke back into our own conversations.

"So, _Alecko_, were any large fish caught on this great fishing expedition of yours?" I asked, grinning that I used his nickname. In all honesty, I liked the name Alecko a lot, and I just wanted to say it.

He seemed to blush for just a moment when I said it; maybe the nickname was a term of affection, like if he had called me Bells or B. Maybe it wasn't okay that I used it? Though, he didn't seem to react negatively, he just blushed, so I guess it was fine.

"I'm not the fisherman, much to their chagrin; that's more dad and Dem's forte," he answered.

"You mean Demi," Rosalie corrected, making sure she pronounced it the opposite way of how she was told it was said. She was really had a field day with that.

"Is that my new name for the rest of the night?" he asked, not seeming to care one way or another but just wanting further clarification.

"Yup," she answered him with a satisfied grin.

"So what did you guys do in our absence? It must have been a dreadfully dull couple of days for you," Alec asked.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Cocky much? That sounded more like a comment Demi over there should have made, not you," I said with a grin.

Demitri lifted his head and seemed to evaluate my statement. "True," he agreed.

"We actually had a great time. We did yoga on the beach in the morning, had spa treatments, hung out and tanned, snorkeled and went out," I told him, omitting the part where I sulked around my room, crying a little bit, and mostly kept to myself – he didn't need to know _that_ stuff. "We didn't even notice your absence," I stated, which wasn't actually a lie.

"Well, you didn't know what you were missing – we're tons of fun," he said, very matter-of-factly.

"We're here," Gustavo announced, "have a great time and I'll see you when you're ready to be picked up. Let me know if anyone gets out of line and I'll come and get you." He sounded like a concerned dad which was just adorable.

We piled out of the Escalade and made our way to the entrance of the club. There were two very large bouncers in the front with ear pieces on. The line to get in was wrapped around the block – there weren't a lot of options for places to go in Cabo and this happened to be the best one. We strolled up to the front of the line and waited to enter.

"The line starts back there," the bouncer rudely told us without looking at us.

Rose and I exchanged a quick glance; there was no way in hell I was waiting in line, here of all place. I never waited in line and I wasn't about to start here. The ropes parted for me, it wasn't the other way round. Alice shot us a look, as if to say that she would handle it.

"We're on the list," Alice told him.

"That's what they all say," the same bouncer said with a chuckle to his other bouncer buddy.

"Well, why don't you do your job and _actually_ check it – Brandon's the last name," Alice told him authoritatively.

The two of them exchanged a look and phoned in the name on their ear piece, trying to make it seem like they were doing something before they turned away from us. Neither seemed like they were inclined to do anything other than stand there – they weren't really the go-out-of-your-way-to-make-your-client-happy type of people. I gave Alice her shot but now it was my turn to try.

I prepared myself to go all Bitch Bella on them; I hadn't done this in a while so I hoped it came out the way I intended. I flipped my hair back, held my head high, puffed my chest out and plastered my best entitled facial expression across my face as I stepped up to the bouncers.

"Excuse me," I said loudly, tapping them both on the shoulder. "Can you both actually _do_ your job, with your limited brain capacity you have, or do I need to talk to the owner? Believe me I will and then both of your asses will be fired…no scratch that, you won't _just_be fired you'll be blacklisted from even the worst shit hole around here. Comprende? See all those people whispering things quietly to themselves and having their camera phones out – they're trying to get a picture of _me_ you morons. Do you have any clue who I am?" I said, in the most condescending tone I could muster being slightly out of practice.

I never pulled the celebrity card, because I hated being identified as one especially since I really wasn't on in my opinion, but it was warranted in this situation and people really were making a bit of a scene outside. "If anything happens here to me or _any_ of these nice people waiting in line, ranging from somebody stubbing their toe to developing a slight cough, because you made us wait out here, your asses will be mine. And I will take _everything_ you have from now until the day you die. Now, I think it would be in your best interest to let us in," I stated, concluding my rant.

The two of them just stood there, mouths open and staring at me. There was a commotion going on from inside the door until someone else, looking like she had a little more influence over the club, came out. She said something very quickly in Spanish to them and then moved the rope away to let us through. "My deepest apologies Ms. Swan; they should have let you in as soon as you arrived," she said, apologizing to us and reprimanding her bouncers. "And Ms. Brandon, please accept my deepest apologies, whatever your party wants is on the house tonight," the woman told us.

"Well, we'd like everyone in line to have a drink on us – if that's alright," I told her, changing my demeanor back to the sweet and pleasant Bella.

"Of course, we'll take care of that immediately. Come on in, we've got your section ready," she told us.

We walked through the packed club to our designated area. It was nice – above and beyond what I actually expected for something in Cabo and better than anything we'd been to the nights prior. This place could have, easily, been a club in LA. It had a very beachy ambiance, to match with the air of the city: everything was in white and blues with water, sand and fish tanks everywhere. What surprised me the most was the sheer size of the club. It was two, gigantic, floor with people in every open, and sometimes occupied, corner.

"So can I just say that was more than a little impressive," Demitri gushed, clearly impressed that I had the balls to do something like that.

"Why thank you," I said, settling down in our booth and pouring the girls and myself some drinks.

I placed the drink in front of Alice who nodded her head in appreciation and acknowledging that it was there. She was too busy snapping photos to be bothered with drinking it though. We spent the next half hour drinking, chatting and posing for pictures as our official photographer documented the night. Any tension there might have been at the tequila tasting had evaporated and things were hunky dory again.

"So my dear Alice, are you seeing anyone special at the moment," Demitri asked, sincerely, in a very big brother sort of way that was quite endearing.

Who knew that Alice meant so much to him?

"You know me," she said coyly looking down at her drink. This was as good of an answer as the two of them were going to get. I couldn't help but grin at her response which I promptly covered up by taking a sip from my drink – I wasn't about to give her away.

Demitri and Alec exchanged a brief look; seemed like they didn't particularly believe her response. What was it with this family – everyone was so skeptical of each other and no one seemed to believe anyone. But, I suppose it was with good reason because she _was_ lying…

"And what about you?" Demitri asked Rose, snuggling up to her. He was trying to be smooth and seductive but it wasn't coming across that way due to his level of inebriation – it just looked like he was trying to cozy up to Rose for her body heat which was hysterical.

The look on Rose's face was priceless: she couldn't have looked more uncomfortable yet totally entertained if she tried. Alice, immediately, snapped her camera to capture this Kodak moment.

"I actually am seeing someone – have been for a while," she answered him.

"Damn," Demitri replied but stayed where he was – a boyfriend didn't seem to deter or bother him. If the fact that they were cousins didn't deter him, her having a boyfriend sure as hell wasn't.

I knew what was coming and I wasn't about to answer that question. _Helllllll no_. I grabbed the bottle of whatever tequila they had for us and refilled my drink – much stronger than I had made before. The mere mention of this topic made me want to make sure I had, for sure, repressed any and all memories of relationships, boys, and anything else that went along with this topic. I wanted to be positive that this lovely, groggy, haze that was blocking my memory receptacles was firmly in place for the rest of the night – and to make sure it did, that required an excessive amount of alcohol consumption.

I downed half my drink in 3 large gulps, feeling that comforting burning sensation go down my throat. I would _make_ myself not remember what I was involved in at home if it was the last thing I did. I was _not_ going to go down the relationship memory lane tonight. I poured some more tequila in my cup and stood up.

"I'm going to go dance," I announced and headed towards one of the dance floor.

I left the others there, not turning back once to see if anyone had followed me. I made my way to the most crowded area of the floor and attempted to blend in. The music thumped; it was loud enough so that it was the only thing I could focus on. Guys around me tried to dance with me which was fine; I humored them, dancing with them for a minute or two before I broke away and moved on to the next one. But the longer I stayed on the dance floor the more crowded it got – and I wasn't a huge fan of crowds. Maybe it was the fact that I couldn't control a large crowd or maybe it was the thought that getting trampled to death didn't sound like such a great idea. Either way, I had never been a fan of large crowds and needed some space.

I saw a high stage that didn't seem to have a lot of people around it so I made my way over, escaping from the chaotic mess that was the dance floor. I had someone hoist me up onto the stage because there was no way that I would have been able to get up there on my own; I was too short and in the wrong type of outfit.

From this vantage point, I pretty much had a clear view of the entire club – or at least the first floor and the VIP area, which was all that really mattered. Alice and Rose spotted me immediately and let out a yell and a waved. They were dancing together and seemed to be having a good time. Neither of them looked upset or anything that I had got up and left which was good. As I danced on the raised stage I spotted Alice taking pictures of me from across the floor and struck a few poses for her; drunken me had no problem with Alice's photo obsession. I actually kinda liked it. Strange how drunk me liked things that sober me hated or got annoyed with.

I looked for the guys but they were gone. I scanned the crowd and noticed that they had somehow taken over the DJ booth. I shot them a quick wave, which they notice and waved back. I thought I heard my name or something called out over the sound system as the song changed to Sexy Bitch and I went back to dancing. There were some other people on the stage with me so I danced with them a bit, swaying along with the music. This was yet another thing that was out of the norm for me – I wasn't one to just dance in public. I could dance and I enjoyed dancing but I mostly did it in the privacy of my own home or around close friends, just in case of bout of uncoordination decided to strike. I didn't want to embarrass myself after all. But thank you alcohol for lowering my inhibitions with this as well.

I was having a great time rocking out to the music and dancing alongside my anonymous back up dancers until the damn fog machine came on. At first it wasn't a big deal, a little smoke here and there, making me a little more comfortable to dance more because I was a little more obstructed to the public by the smokey haze. But then the smoke wouldn't stop coming. The rest of the people on the stage were able to move away from the smoke but it had gotten even more crowded on the dance floor so I stayed in the mist. I would rather be totally surrounded by the smoke instead of being pushed up against a bunch of sweaty people I didn't know and ruining my dress. I didn't like my own sweat, let alone someone who I'd never met and will never see again's sweat…disgusting. The fog was bearable at first but after five minutes of nonstop smoke machine I could barely see what was in front of me and started coughing.

The coughing was sporadic at first but it progressively got worse. I needed to get off the stage but now I couldn't see the ground. On top of the fact that if I needed help to get onto this stage I was definitely going to need some assistance getting down. If I had been worried that people would be able to see up my dress at first when I was getting on the stage, it was going to be twice as bad trying to get down on my own because I wouldn't even be able to see what I was doing. So the shortness of my dress, coupled with my level of drunkenness and height of my stilettos; I would probably break an ankle while going into a coughing fit and flashing the whole club – not good.

I looked around to see if anyone was around me but even that was difficult. This stupid machine had to have been broken because it just kept spewing out more and more fog obscuring my vision and this damn fog was freezing. I could feel myself shivering from the coldness of the fog mixing with my sweat, making me even colder.

As I continued to cough, I waved my hand in front of my face in an attempt to clear away some of the smoke. By doing this I was finally able to see someone in front of me and tapped them on the shoulder. "A little help," I yelled, my teeth chattering away and hoping to God that it was a guy or a very butch lesbian.

An arm extended up, definitely male, which was good because if it had been some girl around my size both of our asses would have ended up on the floor and injured. I took the hand that was extended to me but was still too big of a drop to just jump down, especially still not being able to see the floor. The guy who was assisting me seemed to notice my difficulty and wrapped an arm around my waist, hoisting me to the ground.

Whoever this guy was he was tall because he didn't need to reach that much to where I was. Luckily, he wasn't trying to get handsy either, which a lot of guys in this situation would probably have tried to take advantage of. I tried to make out something about my rescuer but still couldn't see much in between my coughing and shivering, even though we were moving away from the smoke machine. I wasn't sure if it was from the coughing or the actual smoke machine but my eyes had teared up as well and I could barely open my eyes without them stinging. My rescuer was so warm I couldn't help but move a little closer to him, sharing his heat – I was too cold to care if this guy thought I was coming on to him. There was also something familiar about him that didn't make me mind as much that I was cozying up to a random stranger: his cologne was familiar, like something I had smelled before and through my watering eyes I thought his hair was a bronzish color too.

"You know, you look a lot like my boyfriend," I told him, not even stopping to think that I said this out loud and not in my head. And why did I say boyfriend? I did not have one of those anymore. Though, in this sort of situation, I suppose it made sense to say you're attached to someone, leaving the threat open that someone could come and kick their ass at any time if they do something inappropriate.

"Well, that might be because I am your boyfriend," Edward replied.

**so what'd ya think? i hope you thought the songs worked well with the chapter. let me know if you think they didn't or if you think they did, or anything else you might want to write to me about. love to hear what you though as always.**

**the next chapter is written,it just needs to be edited and looked over, so i'm hoping by the weekend the second portion of this chapter will be up. a little encouragement would be nice (reviews, cough, cough, lol)**


	34. My New Mantra Sucks

**so this was a little later than i intended on posting, but it's still been a week - so i think that's pretty good! lol it's another long one - so hopefully that makes up for it.**

**thank you for everyone who's reviewed and stuck with the story. you guys are phenomenal and make my day every time i read something from you guys! xoxo**

**i've made yet another playlist - that won't play mind you - but the individual songs are posted on my profile page and are in the right order. so check them out. :) i'll also have the girl's bathing suits up there as well.**

**HUGE thanks to pennylane for helping me out - couldn't do it without you.**

**enjoy!**

BPOV

It took a minute for that statement to click in as I found myself now in the cool beach air on the patio. I just stood there, well more like held there, looking at him until the gravity of what he said finally sunk in… and then I started freaking out.

A million different thoughts started whizzing around in my head and I couldn't seem to silence any of them. Was he really here or was this all just a hallucination? Did he follow us to Mexico? How did he even know I was here? Is Jacob here too? My fight or flight instincts also started to kick in and I wanted to be as far away from there as possible – but for some reason I wasn't moving. My body was doing what it wanted to even though my brain was telling me to get far away.

"Huh?" was all I managed to eek out. I downed the remainder of his drink in one swift gulp and blinked repeatedly to make sure that I wasn't imagining this, which would at least answer one of my many questions. Apparently, my freak out was just going on inside my head; outside I was calm as a cucumber and looking for anything more to drink. Alcohol at the moment was an _absolute_ necessity.

"I said…" he began with a smug smirk playing across his lips while still rubbing my arms to warm me up. I could still feel the goosebumps on my arm and I thought I was still shivering – though, that also could have been from being so upset that Edward was currently in front of me too.

"I understood what you said…" I snapped sarcastically back. "What the hell are you _doing_ here?" I inquired, clarifying my initial question but still clutching on to him.

He said nothing, just kind of looked at me. So this was the first time that he had nothing to say, no form of response? Ha; yea right.

"I… You look…" he started saying before getting cut off.

"What the fuck are _you_ doing here?" Rose yelled, utterly surprised. "Where is he?" she said directing her attention away from us and looking around for Emmett.

"So you're on a college tour huh? 'In sunny LA' the last time you texted; I believe that's the exact words you wrote, right? This is why we haven't heard from any you," Alice interjected. Both of them were livid.

I saw the other two pop out the door leading to the patio, drinks in hand, not realizing what they were about to walk into.

"Busted," a drunken Jasper stated, with a look on his face that reminded me of a little kid who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Oh fuck," Emmett stated stopping dead in his tracks.

"Oh fuck is right," Rosalie told him, walking in the complete opposite direction of where he was standing. "Move it Bella; we're leaving," she ordered.

"Rose wait," Em called out, following after Rosalie.

"Edward?" Alec called out, giving Edward and me a confused look.

"Is everyone in Mexico this weekend? I thought you fuckers were out of town?" Demitri asked, excited.

With their appearance, I was able to focus on where we were and who we were in front of, dropping down to the floor and moving three wide strides away from the person I had been trying to forget about all damn weekend.

"Apparently," Alice answered for the boys, glowering between Edward and J.

"Oh you're fucked," I whispered, slightly drunk but very quickly sobering up, to Jazz before moving over to Alec's side.

This move was not missed by Edward; he seemed bothered by the fact that I was moving away from him, ever so slightly down turning his lips when I did this, as if he didn't approve. He might not have approved but he, also, didn't seem as if he wasn't very concerned. Besides, who I went to was none of his concern anymore anyway.

"Are you alright?" Alice asked me, slurring quietly. She was concerned but still fairly tipsy.

I nodded; technically, I was fine… The bastard just had to come and rescue me from suffocating to death by a fog machine. If I knew that he was going to be the one doing the rescuing I think I would have preferred staying there and taking my chances.

"Well this is a pleasant surprise," Dem exclaimed. "We must get together. When are you leaving?"

"Sunday night," Edward replied.

"That's the same day as the girls," Alec stated.

"What a coincidence," Alice replied flatly, now only glaring at J.

I wasn't exactly sure what the hell was going on and why the guys were here but I knew I wanted to get away from them as soon as possible. I didn't want to hang out with them tonight; I didn't want to hang out with them _any_ night. This wonderful, blissfully groggy, night was slowly turning into the night from hell. The one person that could ruin this trip was now here and there was no avoiding the situation because he was in front of me. I tried to think up escape routes but nothing seemed logistically possible – I was cornered. Maybe I could just walk off right now and no one would notice…

"So how does that sound?" Demitri proposed.

"No," Alice responded firmly.

No to what? Had I missed the question and what they were talking about completely because I was so wrapped up in my own head? Most likely.

"Come on Alice, we never get to see you guys. Whatever this is, we're more important that it - can't you guys put whatever this is behind you for a day?" Demitri tried to reason, rather arrogantly.

He _was not_ more important than the situation to me so maybe I could just go home; they could do all the family bonding they wanted. My presence wasn't really needed.

Alice looked like she considered what he said. "No," she stated again.

"Come on," Alec tried this time, "please?" He gave her the puppy dog eyes which he knew she couldn't resist.

"I don't know if this is the best idea," Edward replied, relieving Alice from all the attention.

So he was coming to her rescue too. Well, wasn't he just the best fucking knight in shining armor?

Alec and Demitri looked over to him briefly but then turned their attention back to Alice, knowing she would be the one to make the decision. "Well, Bella's got to agree to this before we commit," she stated.

"Eddie, there you are," a lanky blonde said latching onto Edward's arm, which he barely seemed to notice. He did not seem interested in this chick but he wasn't pushing her away either.

I almost vomited when the blonde did this; Alice's eyes, literally, widened to three times their usual size.

"Do whatever you want; I'm fine with it," I replied, keeping my eyes glued to Edward's to see if his reaction would change – which it didn't. He got a little shifty, though, and possibly a little embarrassment could have been thrown in there, when he realized I was staring him down.

I didn't mean to and I _certainly_ didn't want to but I just couldn't take my eyes off the blonde and he. I felt that knot, which had dissipated since we got to Mexico, come zooming back; it was like it never left. The best thing for me would have been to promptly leave this area but did I? Of course not.

"Then there should be no problem, right?" Dem asked.

"We're in," he said with a nod shooting a look over at Jasper which I didn't get; what was he trying to tell him?

"Let's go back in the club; you're more than welcome to join," Alec suggested placing his arm around my shoulder. I wasn't sure if he knew there was something going on between the Edward and me but I was glad his arm was securely around me, nonetheless. With each passing second that this girl held onto his arm I could feel my knees weakening. At any moment they felt as if they could give out.

"No, I think it's time to go; this place is getting a little crowded. They're letting just anyone in here," I said giving the blonde a wayward glance.

"Exactly," Alice agreed, looking at the blonde as well and then over to Emmett and Jasper. Clearly, she was lumping them in with the riffraff as well tonight.

"Rosie, just hang on for a minute and let me explain," Emmett called out chasing after Rosalie who just popped out back on the patio.

They had looped around and were back where they started. They seemed to be in the same positions they were when they left: Rosalie pissed and Emmett unsure of how exactly to fix this but knowing he was in serious trouble. In fact, it looked like his shirt had been stained with multiple different colors, which I could only assume was from Rose throwing shit at him.

"I'm warning you Emmett, say one more thing to me and next time it won't be a glass thrown at your head – it'll be a full fucking bottle," she warned.

"I think it might be a best if we left," Alice suggested.

"Don't leave on our account," Edward said, looking at the blonde briefly.

"We're not _Eddie_," I answered him abruptly and mimicking the blonde, as I turned to leave with Alec.

"I think you were right that someone was out to get us. If these _assholes_ have been here the whole time they're most likely the ones who have been taking our reservations at restaurants, at clubs…. They're the ones took my fucking hotel making us have to stay here! _Mother fuckers_!" Rose yelled from her room.

"I _told_ you!" Alice exclaimed, yelling back. I could tell from the exuberance in her voice that she felt vindicated: she had been right about that the fact that someone was out to get us and was bound to remind us of this fact until the day we died.

All of us were still in our respective rooms getting ready for this outing we were forced into: the two of them because of their "family obligations" and, me, because I was not about to let Edward get the best of me. I, _absolutely_, did not want to go today but I couldn't see a way out of it - there was no choice. I wasn't about to let Edward think he still had some sort of emotional impact over me, regardless of if that was actually true or not. I could try to fake it; I had to.

All last night, the feelings I had tried to repress since the breakup happened had been unleashed. Seeing that gorgeous blonde fawning all over Edward only made these worse and made my stomach tighten. It brought the vision of Victoria in Edward's shirt the thing I saw every time I closed my eyes. This was the reason I had been unable to sleep all night: tossing and turning and crying, all the while thinking about every interaction Edward and I had ever had. I needed to distinguish what was fake and what wasn't, if there even _had_ been anything real between us…

Even with all these emotions bouncing around in my head, I _could not_, let him know that he got to me. I didn't want him, or anyone else for that matter, to know that I had retreated back to the girl I had been. The girl who could was completely broken and whose heart had been shattered into a million pieces due to his indiscretion – it was hard enough to go through this the first time, I didn't want to repeat these feelings all over again. All this progress I thought I had made here, moving forward and feeling like myself again, had clearly meant nothing. I hadn't fixed anything; I had just put up more walls and chose to not deal by distracting myself with other things like yatching and tanning, lying to myself and telling myself I was alright. I hadn't dealt with anything; and now, with him here, I was forced to deal with all this shit again.

And the fact that he was with another girl and she was so brazen… She didn't need to be all over him but she was claiming her territory. She thought I posed a threat I suppose. But why was I blaming her, she didn't owe anything to me – it was Edward who should have put some distance between the two of them when she came out. What an _asshole_ for flaunting this chick in front of me with no qualms about it at all.

But, I already knew that he was an asshole: he was my asshole… No, I couldn't think of that. That thought, right there, would only lead to bad things. Case in point last night when I couldn't sleep: Edward + Bella only equals bad things, I had to remember that. I just couldn't believe that after all he had gone through to talk and get through to me – to get me back - he had moved on, just like that_; _now_ that_ really hurt. I felt my puffy eyes welling up again and my lip start to quiver with this thought of this. I sniffled a little and felt yet another tear slide down my cheek; I thought I was all cried out from last night. I tried to stay quiet so the other two wouldn't hear me. I had a feeling they knew our brief encounter last night brought up some feelings but I didn't want them to know the extent of it. I forced myself to stop crying, thinking about baseball and golf, things that would sober me up because they bored me to death. At least one positive thing happened from all my crying last night: the fact that I had stayed up all night, crying, had completely sobered me up this morning. Maybe I had cried all the alcohol out of my system? Yay for silver lining…

"Are you ready?" Rose asked, unenthusiastically, coming into my room.

Her suit made me forget about my moping and all my issues for a moment. In fact, I wouldn't have been surprised if my eyes popped out of my head when I saw what she was wearing. It shouldn't have been called a bathing but rather, a black ace bandage that was strategically wrapped around her body. She looked phenomenal and made her already perfect body looked even better but that thing shouldn't be worn in any other place than the bedroom. With her dark shades, cascading hair and raised platform wedges; that girl was dressed to kill.

"I know," she said with a smug grin. "Payback's a bitch."

"He's going to die, you know that, right?" I told her matter-of-factly.

And he really would because under normal circumstances, she was any male's walking wet dream, but now this whole get up took it to a new level altogether. She would have guys all over her all day long and Emmett wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it – she wouldn't let me. He'd be in a jealous tizzy and unable to say or do squat, which was _exactly_ what she was going for.

"Gracias," she said with another smile – she was as happy as a clam. "Y tu, Bells."

I smiled slightly, nodding, but said nothing. Since running into Edward I had barely said a whole sentence to them. I had really reverted back into my good ole' self – clamming up, depressed, and crying at the drop of a hat; it really was great to be me…

"Are you sure you're alright? We can talk if you want," Rose asked for the third time today.

"I'm fine," I quickly answered back in the same answer I'd been giving them all day.

"Ready?' Alice said annoyed, coming into my room as well. She was dressed in a sarong and a teal and green suit.

She wasn't thrilled about having to meet up with the boys either and said more than enough for all of us last night – in fact she wouldn't _stop_ talking. She was so mad her mouth was running a million miles a minute with the worst expletives I had heard in a while; she really did have a potty mouth sometimes, but who was I to talk?

"Jesus Alice, bring the girls out to play?" Rosalie asked, clearly surprised that she was wearing such a revealing suit as well. "Who the hell are you trying to get jealous?"

If she only knew…

Alice shifted her weight looking a bit nervous and edgy. "I'm not trying to make anyone jealous; I just don't want to be upstaged by either of you. I mean look at you guys, you look phenomenal, I had to keep up right? That would have been ridiculous if I just showed up in a mumu or something. Besides, we need to be the best dressed there, which we will be regardless, but we've got to show the guys what they're missing by ditching us and coming on their own," she rambled. She was desperately trying to cover up the fact that she was, indeed, trying to make a certain Jasper Hale jealous. And sometimes when Alice gets nervous, she rambles incoherently.

"_Okay_…" Rose responded, taking a deep breath and looking at Alice skeptically. "Let's get this over with."

The three of us trudged out the door and headed towards the entrance for the private residences. I assumed we were meeting up with Alec and Demitri there since I hadn't paid any attention to the conversations that took place last night after we left the club. In fact, I hadn't heard much of _anything_ that was said last night; I was too wrapped up in my own problems to be concerned with anyone else. The alcoholic stupor I was in had the opposite effect of what I intended: instead of forgetting about Edward, he was the only thing that I would think about. I wasn't tired or in some happy place – I was stuck in reality, forced to think of the hell I was trapped in. It was awful: people drank to avoid their problems not be constantly reminded of them.

The other two were in the car waiting for us in front of their room. I quietly said my hellos, moving to my seat in the back and then slipped into a comfortable silence yet again. I was going to have to be on later, so I was conserving my energy. The guys didn't seem to notice the lack of noise in the car, though. Alec looked slightly hung over, like he was trying to recover while Demitri was too wrapped up in himself, making sure his hair looked good and that he was properly groomed using any reflective surface he could find. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that _he_ was Rose's twin because they did quite a lot of the same things.

The ride to the ME resort had been calm, quiet, and uneventful – the way I had wanted it. I mentally prepared myself during the ride for my day ahead. Would he have the girl from last night with him or would it be a new chick? How would I even react to seeing this one? Would she be as pretty as the girl from last night? Would she be prettier than me? Maybe there would be no girl at all. All these questions and more ran through my head simultaneously. I was thinking of too many possible situations but not how I would handle them. I would be totally unprepared if I didn't take a breath and relax. I was freaking out about everything; I did not want to be blindsided by some random girl the way I was last night. How could he even do this to me, parading some girls around who meant nothing to him in front of me? Maybe he thought that, that was what I was doing with Jacob but I wasn't; it was totally different, I rationalized with myself. Did I even mean anything to him if he could do this? I mean, yes, he slept with someone else but at least he didn't do it directly in front of me. Now, it was like he was taunting me by flaunting these girls in front of me. I had to stay strong and not let him see that this got under my skin. I wouldn't let him get this satisfaction of knowing that.

We were at the resort now and there was no going back. Well, there was going back to the hotel… No, that wouldn't show him anything though. Going back would mean that he had won and I couldn't let that happen.

"Come on Bells," Alice said, treating me like I was in special ed and motioning for me to get out of the car since I was the only one left in the car. "It'll be okay," she said and little quieter.

The flashes came as I got out of the car: someone had alerted the media that we were coming to this hotel. That, or they had followed us since we left the hotel and I hadn't noticed, which was also a possibility. No one had been particularly perceptive this morning in their hung over state. I glanced towards the cameras but couldn't be bothered with trying to get rid of them. It would have taken more effort than I was willing to exert to get rid of them, so I let them do their thing. It was just one more inconvenience today and this one would be much easier to deal with than the other. Besides, it might be nice to have them around, like I had turned a new leaf of something.

"Really?" Rose asked, shocked by my change of heart towards the paparazzi.

I nodded again and waved at the camera. This seemed to worry Alice and Rosalie who exchanged weary looks.

"Hi Rose," Emmett said sheepishly. He came out from around the corner of the building with a glass of champagne and flowers – which she completely ignored.

Instead of acknowledging his presence, she threw off her cover up onto his face and proceeded to the bar. "Demi, want to buy me a drink?" she flirted.

"I would be crazy not it," he replied, following her.

I saw the little vain in Emmett's head start pulsating when he, a., saw what she was wearing and, b., saw that she was blatantly flirting with other guys. He looked to Alice and me for comfort but received nothing.

"You deserve it," Alice told him in a sing-songy voice before walking away with Alec.

I stood there for half a second before joining the two As. They seemed to know where they were going so I followed them with Em following me.

"I'm Alec, by the way," he said, introducing himself to Emmett when the two of us finally caught up with them. "Introductions were somehow missed last night," he joked trying to keep the mood light.

"Emmett," he replied, sizing up Alec before extending his arm to shake. He was being cordial but it was clear that Em did not like this guy.

"Nice to meet you," Alec responded and extended his hand as well. "That's my brother, Demitri, over there with Rosalie. We're Alice and Edward's cousins."

"So that means he's Rose's cousin too…" he said, glancing over to Alice and me.

"Technically," Alice responded putting sunblock on her legs.

Em grumbled quietly to himself before finding the best seat so that he could observe Rose over at the bar. A group of guys had grown around her and she was flirting with all of them. Emmett was _not_ a happy camper and was not trying to hide that fact.

"So where's Edward?" Alec asked.

Alice rolled her eyes with the mention of his name; apparently she didn't want to see her dear cousin either.

"They're on their way, should be here soon actually," he said glancing at his phone. "I wanted to make sure I was here when you guys got here to try and mend some bridges early," Emmett explained, finally tearing his eyes away from Rose and looking between Alice and me.

"Well, I'm not _as_ mad at you as I am with the others. Actually, I'm just shocked that you were able to keep this secret," Alice told him.

Emmett seemed to relax a little when she said this and smiled his goofy ass grin at Alice. "Thanks munchkin. I'm getting better but this secret stuff blows – I dunno how you guys do it all the time. Could you help me out?" he said, grabbing the sunblock.

Alice nodded her head, taking the sunblock from him but then swapping it out for tanning oil once Emmett had turned around. She said she wasn't as upset with him but that didn't mean that she was okay with Emmett keeping secrets from her – big difference. Clearly, letting him get the sunburn from hell was the way she intended on teaching him this lesson.

"And you?" Em asked turning towards me.

I just shrugged – I honestly didn't care. I mean I was a little upset that they were here and had lied about where they were but there was only one person who had now ruined this trip. I didn't really care that Jasper or Em were here – just the one.

"So we're back to these non-answers then?" he asked Alice.

"Well, it wasn't like this until you fuckers showed up," Alice replied, working in more tanning oil.

"Am I missing something?" Alec asked the two of them with a confused look on his face.

"Yes – don't worry about it though; just some baggage from home," Emmett told him.

"And here comes our baggage," Alice mumbled with a frown on her face.

The two of them walked in and came into our cabana. "Hey," Edward quietly greeted us, looking around the group but mainly looking at me.

I held his gaze for a couple seconds before looking away. Why was he looking at me?

"Morning all," Jasper said, tipping the front of his straw hat at us. "Jasper," he said, introducing himself to Alec.

"Alec," he responded back, doing the introductions thing for the final time since everyone now knew each other.

"It's the afternoon," Alice corrected, shooting Jasper a dagger filled glance. No, she wasn't upset with him at all…

And so it started: the passive aggressive jabs, the snarky comments, and the upset looks. It was just like bring at home but in a more tropical environment.

"I'll be right back – I'm going to go get us some beverages," Edward said, heading towards the bar area.

"I'll come with," Em said, popping up immediately and joining him; this gave him an actual excuse to go over and check out how things are going with Rose.

I stood up and very slowly and deliberately took off my pink cover up, finally exposing my white bathing suit. I had deliberately chosen to wear this suit because it flattered my body perfectly, making me look extra curvy where I wanted and skinnier in other places. It also, looked phenomenal against my newly tanned skin – it would get everyone's attention without being over the top. Edward was over at the bar and stopped what he was doing when he noticed my revealing, which was exactly what I had intended. If I was being honest, my choice of bathing suit was strictly for his benefit and to show him what he was missing, but I couldn't make that obvious. He wasn't the only one staring at me, though, others were looking at me and snapping pictures. If I was going to go along with this paparazzi thing, I suppose I had to suck up the annoyance and invasion of personal space I felt by letting random people capture pictures of my personal life. This little experiment with the paparazzi was just for today - tomorrow things would be back to normal and I would be paparazzi-less. I saw Edward look around briefly to see where the pictures were coming from but when he noticed I didn't seem concerned he stopped his search.

"Alec, can you put some sunblock on my back; I can't reach it," I asked in my most helpless voice.

"No problem," Alec replied, jovially.

"Seriously?" Jasper asked turning towards Alice.

"Oh, we're not talking," Alice replied with a laugh, brushing him off.

He gave me a disapproving look when he realized that Alice was ignoring him. "Don't start this B – it's just going to make him start playing this game back," he said quietly to me before Alec came within earshot.

"Stay out of it; I can handle myself," I shot back at him.

As soon as Alec started rubbing my back I noticed Edward was watching us. Thank god for dark sunglasses, otherwise he would have seen that I was studying him for his reaction. Edward didn't look upset over this but he seem tense and even a little agitated, running a hand through his hair repeatedly which was one of his tells that he was on edge. Point for me: game on bitch. When I felt Alec's hands move lower on my back I saw Edward's expression harden momentarily before he diverted his attentions to the bartender. He seemed to now be utterly engrossed in the conversation they were having and even began flirting with her before he and Emmett came back to the cabana.

"Well it's only fair; turn around and I'll do your back," I told Alec, taking the lotion from him when he was done.

I heard exacerbated sighs from Alice and Jasper as he turned but I ignored those too. I knew they thought I was handling this wrong - that I would only make matters worse between Edward and I; that I would most likely get hurt but I didn't care. Besides I didn't start this, _he_ did, so I was just ending this. I went to work putting the lotion on Alec's back. I spent a fair amount of time on each area making sure it was properly covered. Every 30 seconds or so I saw Edward's head turn towards us before going back his conversation. When this happened I, of course, used a little more effort than necessary, casually throwing out an enjoyable smile or small laugh: like Alec and I were enjoying some private joke the others were not privy to.

"I think you got it," Alice muttered under her breath.

I suppose I had spent a little too much time on rubbing in sunblock, now I needed to change things up. I needed to change my tactics if I was going to win this game. "I'm going over to Rose," I announced, sauntering over to the bar.

"Bells!" Rosalie yelled from the center of a very large group of dudes. "Make room," she ordered motioning them to get out of the way.

The sea of guys parted and I found my way to the center with her. "How's it going in here?" I asked her.

"Positively delightful," she laughed loudly.

"Could be better," Demitri responded annoyed and taking a sip from his drink, "she's getting all the attention."

She ignored his comment. "Is he watching?" she asked me much softer, as to not alert all her male suitors to the fact that she was totally disinterested in them and already taken.

"But of course," I said loudly with a huge fake smile, keeping up her façade of having the best time in her life.

The music then started to kick in and the feel of the beautiful poolside bar turned into something that resembled more of a club – even with bikini clad, poolside go-go dancers.

"Let's dance!" I exclaimed, grabbing Rose and heading over an open side of the pool that had some space by the DJ booth. The gaggle of guys followed the two of us, while Demitri made his way back to the cabana. Each guy seemed to try something different to see if they could get our attention, though, none were successful in the task.

As I spun Rose around, dancing around with the music, I noticed a group of girls had joined our party at the cabana: two of them were flanked on either side of Edward. He was causally flirting with them; laughing at something one would say or do. The rest of our party ignored the other girls who were there, aside from Alec and Demitri; the others did not want to get involved in our war. Edward brushed one of the girl's hair away from her face. It was the exact same way that he used to do with me. I was taken back to the countless times he had done to with me and I could almost feel the place where his fingers would brush my face when I saw him do this to her. And this caused me to slightly lose it.

It didn't matter that Rose had been there first and had cause this whole scene to make Emmett jealous, I needed all these guys for myself now and needed to get rid of her. In the process of dancing I somehow managed to move her off to the side, taking center stage dancing with a couple guys and laughing it up at anything they had to say. Drinks were being handed to me left and right but I held my cup firm – I wasn't about to trust anyone just giving me a drink anymore. I had learned my lesson the first time. I signaled for the photographer to come over, letting them take pictures of what was going on. I wanted to show everyone that I didn't care anymore; I could role with the punches and I didn't have to be so secretive all the time. I could enjoy being in the public eye when _certain people_ weren't around. As I posed I saw a disgruntled Rose make her way back to the cabana looking upset that I had edged her out of being the center of focus. Like I'd said before, though, I was Beyonce, she's Destiny's Child – unfortunately, she'll always be runner up.

I noticed that one of the girls had left and now Edward was just talking to one who happened to be the skankier of the two. She was, blatantly, flirting with him: touching his arm, giggling at anything he said, doing a hair toss – all the tired clichés. I couldn't fault her too much with the crappy techniques, though; I mean that's probably all her STD ridden brain could muster up – poor thing.

"Alecko!" I yelled, waving a hand and motioning him to come join me on the dance floor.

He nodded, grabbing a couple drinks and making his way over to me. I pushed through the group of guys, smiling at them but also making sure that their services were no longer rendered and could now leave.

"I see you know how to draw a crowd," he teased, handing me the drink.

"Well, I try," I replied back. "And thank you for the drink sir – let's dance," I said downing the drink in four large gulps. I felt the alcohol burn my throat as it went down. It was stronger than I anticipated but I pushed through.

We joined the rest of the people on the crowded dance floor; they seemed to make room for us to join in. We swayed to the music, dancing close to each other but never touching or touching only on the arm where it was still considered friendly territory – I made sure of that. This was strictly business: I wanted to keep some boundaries. We stayed on the dance floor for four or five songs, enjoying the music and moving to just the right area to make sure Edward could see us at all times. When I looked over to the cabana, which looked like it was quite possibly the most uncomfortable place in the world at the moment since no one was talking to each other and everyone was pissed off, he wasn't there – and neither was the skank.

I searched the dance floor and the bar area to see if he was there but he wasn't. My eyes darted around the poolside area until I finally turned around finding that bronze mop of hair I had been looking for. He and the skank were in the pool playing chicken with one of her skanky ass friends. She was up on his shoulder and both of them appeared to be having a good time – or at least he was faking it very well if he wasn't.

"Bella, picture?" some random photographer asked me.

"Sure," I graciously answered him and wrapped my arms around Alec's neck and hugged him from behind. When the photographer didn't move away after the first couple of pictures, we took a few more. These were even coupleier where he was hugging me from behind now and another where he had picked me up and held me in his arms swinging me around.

"Thank you, you guys. You two make a very cute couple by the way," the photographer told us loudly. I thought I heard a splash came from the pool area when the photographer said this. It almost sounded as if someone had been dropped from a person's shoulders and into the pool. I let out very satisfied sigh at this.

"But of course we do – have you seen us?" Alec joked as walked back towards the cabana.

"Well, I don't know about you…" I said in a flirty manner as we passed by the pool where Edward was within earshot.

And then I was in the water; Alec had pushed me in.

"What was that for?" I asked him, playfully splashing him and _very_ aware that Edward was less than five feet away from me.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Alec said innocently.

"Sure you don't," I said, pouting in the water and making puppy dog eyes at him.

He stared at me and then looked away, not wanting to see my pouty face. He jumped into the water when he couldn't take it anymore. I had yet to lose a fight or debate when I used this tactic; it worked every time. "Happy now?" he asked me laughing.

"Delighted," I answered him back with a smile.

I looked over at the cabana and four disapproving faces stared back at me – at least the distaste for what I was doing was something they all had in common. Maybe they could bond over that… Alice shook her head at me and mouthed "Don't do this", which I brushed off. They didn't know what I was going through with Edward. They didn't know how much seeing this killed me. Hell, I didn't even know how much it was going to kill me to see him with another girl. He was here flirting with every relatively attractive girl in close proximity and I was just supposed to sit idly by and be okay with it? I was coping in whichever way I could and made sense to me. And, _perhaps_, make him jealous along the way…

"Don't," Rose warned aloud. I couldn't believe that she actually said it out loud.

What did they even care – this had nothing to do with them. Well, that wasn't exactly true, they were involved, indirectly as it was, but that didn't give them a right to dictate what I should or should not do. If I wanted to sink down deeper into my hole of despair, I was allowed to. And if I wanted to play this game with Edward of who was over whom more, I could do that too. I turned around and looked for Alec, showing them what I thought of their opinions.

By the time I had turned around, Alec had made his way Edward and the skank. Edward did not look pleased by this, in fact, he looked rather annoyed. He didn't seem to want to be a conversation with Alec any more than I wanted to be have one with said skank. Alec signaled for me to come over to them. _Why?_ Why did _everything_ have to be so difficult?

I did not want to go over and play nice but I had to if I wanted to keep playing the game. I waddled over to the three of them, keeping my eyes down and on the water. I really didn't want to have to look at any of them.

"That's a really cute suit," the skank told me.

I blinked a couple of times, not that they could see it behind my darkened shade, and gave her a flat, tight and disinterested smile. That was my only response to her.

"Why don't we play a game?" Alec suggested.

"That's a great idea: us versus you," the chick stated.

If only she knew how true that actually was. At this point Edward and I glanced quickly at each other uncertain of what to do; neither of us wanted to do this and it seemed as if we both were going to go along with this begrudgingly. This was the first time we really looked at each other in a while and didn't try to hide it from the other person. There was something in that look, as if both of us wanted to say something to the other but weren't exactly sure how to go about it.

We held that gaze until Edward finally spoke. "I'm getting pretty warm. I think I want to cool off in the cabana for a bit," Edward stated and began walking towards the steps to get out of the pool.

"What? Scarred you're going to lose this one too?" Alec challenged with raised eyebrows, causing Edward to stop dead in his tracks. Edward's hands clenched into little fists and his whole body seemed to go rigid and tightened up with this utterance.

What the hell was he talking about? Lose this one too – was he referring to me? Did Alec even know about our relationship?

"Fine," Edward said begrudgingly and coming back to where we were standing. "I'm in; let's do this thing," he said going down in the water to put the girl on his shoulders.

I just wadded there in the water, being stubborn and holding my ground. I did not want to go along with this stupid chicken fight. But if Edward was willing to go along with this, I knew _I_ had to go along with it too. If I just went through the motions, not doing anything, we would lose; Edward and the skank would win and I _was not_ about to let that happen. It would be my pleasure to take these two down.

"Come on, we've got this in the bag," Alec encouraged me as Edward popped out of the water – water glistening from everywhere and possibly not looking hotter if her tried. Well, there was one instance when he looked better: at the charity gala in his tux, out in the twinkle lights of the courtyard, while we danced in the moonlight – he was the most handsome man I'd ever seen that night. But now, he just looked smokin hot. Damn him – I couldn't take my eyes off of him.

As I sat there thinking of the fine ass specimen that was Edward Cullen, Alec swam under my legs and hoisted me onto his shoulders. I had no time to react; apparently, I was doing this.

"Ready?" Alec asked.

"Yeah," I said unenthusiastically but preparing for battle and moving hair out of my face.

"Ready to lose?" Alec posed to Edward confidently. This all seemed to be more than just a friendly game between the two of them, there was something more going on.

"We'll see," Edward replied back just as confident.

And then we were off and the chick was attacking me with all she had, which I was not expecting. She looked like an anorexic coke whore, so how was I supposed to know that she was going to be a fucking Tasmanian devil up there? I clamped my legs around Alec's shoulders to give me better leverage. I needed to hold my own and I would use any advantages I could get because there was no way I was going to let this skank take me down. It thought for a moment if I actually knew her name. I was sure she told me it but I just didn't care enough to actually remember it; skank was good enough for me. I looked for an open move, using strategy and my wits against her instead of the brutal crazy ass strength she was using. I saw an opening after a little while. She left her left side wide open and never really defended it, favoring to attack with her right. At the right moment I just pushed her away from me on her left side, causing both she and Edward to topple over.

A satisfied smirk spread across my face as Alec set me down from his shoulders and spun me around victoriously. There seemed to be more to this spin as well, it wasn't quite as friendly as the rest of our interactions had been; in fact, this was more flirtatious than he had been all weekend. I didn't know if that had more to do with me or him trying to prove some sort of point to Edward.

"You guys work well together – have you been together for a while?" skank asked as she came out from the water.

Edward's facial expression quickly changed when she said this, doing that strange twitch around the corner of his mouth it had done earlier when he was at the bar and Alec was rubbing my shoulders. His eyes also seemed to darken this time though – he was not happy over this, not at all, though he covered it well. If I didn't know better, I would have said that he was jealous or didn't approve. After a couple of seconds he seemed to snap back to normal.

I heard Alec chuckle behind me but it wasn't a funny sort of laugh…it was smug, as if he had won something.

"We're not together," I corrected, I didn't particularly like where things were going with Alec right now.

"Oh," skank said somewhat surprised.

"Well, we won fair and square – rematch? Want some redemption?" Alec asked, again, smugly.

"Sure," Edward said without missing a beat, "but this time how about Bella and I being partners?"

_What?_ How about Bella and Edward being partners – was he fucking high? How about Bella and Edward _don't_ be partners. I like that option; I like that option _a lot._

All of them stood there looking at me to make my move. It looked like everyone, aside from me, deemed this a good and fair idea to determine who the actual weak links in the teams were. The skank made the first move, getting onto Alec's shoulders while I still stood there like a bump on a log stunned into silence. I was having a hard enough time not thinking about Edward and what's going on with him, or what went on with him in the past; I didn't think getting on top of him would really help out that situation.

I glanced over to the foursome at the cabana as if to say "help me" but they all seemed far too excited about what was about to transpire to care. Rose and Alice even looked a little happy over the fact that this was about to go down. I wouldn't have been surprised if Emmett had busted out a box of popcorn to watch the main event with.

I felt Edward's hands wrap around my waist and I let out a sharp exhale; I was not prepared for this skin on skin contact. He sensed my surprise and gave me a second to adjust before he did anything else. I heard his breath pick up when we touched as well. It took just about all of the strength in me to not just relax into him and stay like that for a while. I had missed him more than I thought I had. That would have been the easy thing to do; the thing my heart and body was _desperately_ telling me to do but my brain knew better. I pushed myself away a little, distancing myself.

"Just go with it," he whispered next to my ear. I felt my whole body quiver as his lips, ever so briefly grazed, my ear before he sank down into the water so I could get onto his shoulders.

To quote Jasper, _seriously_? How did I get myself into these types of predicaments? Name the most awkward and uncomfortable situation I could be in and I would somehow figure out how to get myself into that.

Edward came out from the water, and so did I. He was taller than Alec but I was shorter than the skank so we were more evenly matched this time. He adjusted his stance and grasp of me to give me better support so we wouldn't just topple over. Edward also held onto my knees tighter than Alec did and shifted his weight evenly so I would have a more solid base, give us more of an advantage over the other team.

Now, if I was a smart girl, I would have focused on strategy again, so we could have been over and done with this fucking game as soon as possible but I wasn't; my mind wouldn't let me be smart. The fact that Edward and I were so close, that I was literally on top of him was screwing with my head. All I could think about was where his hands were – I was very conscious of that: they were directly above my knee holding me firmly yet still gently in place. I was also very conscious over the fact that we were both soaking wet and wearing minimal clothing which didn't help matters. I felt like I was being bi-polar, one minute thinking and feeling one thing and the next feeling something else altogether.

My throat got very dry then. I took a gulp of air, attempting to bring moisture back to my throat and calm me down but that didn't help. That second I stopped and took a second to breath I had a moment of clarity: I had not been the last person who had been this close to Edward with this little on – it had been Victoria and God knows who else in Mexico. This person I was on top of wasn't my Edward anymore, if he ever really was my Edward in the first place. The memories and the feelings that I had been feeling had been with someone else, not this Edward. I seemed to somehow forget all about the lying and infidelity whenever we got too close. It was like all sense of my good judgment went right out the window and my _stupid _feelings took over. I did not care about him anymore; I couldn't. All the trust was gone and that's what I needed to focus on. If I cared about him, which I didn't, it didn't matter.

"You ready?" Edward asked me, rocking me a little so as to come to; I guess he noticed I had zoned out.

"No," I answered him shaking my head.

No, why did I say that? Wait, did he just smile because of my response? What did that mean? Focus Bella don't think about him. I _was_ ready; I wanted to be out of the pool and as far away from him as soon as possible. I did not want to spend more time atop his perfectly toned shoulders with that crooked smile of his and beautiful green eyes… _God damn it_! I needed to snap out of this. I just needed to get away from him, _right now_.

"You've had enough time," the skank said.

Both Edward and I stared her down at the same time. Who did she think she was trying to rush me? The fact that she kept trying to eye fuck my Edw…err, my _EX_ Edward, did not help her plight either. The sooner I took her down for the second time, the sooner this shit would be over and done with and I could get far, far away.

"Let's go," I told all of them.

Edward wasted no time and got me into position quickly. He took a step, propelling me forward a bit and giving me the advantage of a better position. I swung my arm with one big movement, trying to throw my weight into it. I grabbed a hold of her and literally hurled her off Alec's shoulders, in the process, making Edward twist which caused him to elbow Alec in the face.

As Edward helped me off his shoulders I saw that he was trying to hide a grin; he didn't seem to be too worked up about decking his cousin in the face. It actually looked like he took a little delight in that fact.

"Wow, you're really good at this game," the skank told me when she came up from under the water.

I gave her, yet another, tight smile. I didn't want to encourage more of this behavior – thinking that it was okay to speak to me – but I also didn't want to be downright rude when she was giving me a compliment.

"I guess Bella and I just make a better team than I thought," Edward said smugly, directing that comment towards Alec.

Alec muttered something in Greek to himself causing Edward to smile even more – I didn't know that Edward understood Greek…

"Oh shit; Alec your mouth is bleeding," the skank said grabbing onto Edward's arm as if she was afraid of the blood. I guess she felt as if she needed some sort of protection from the big scary droplets of blood – what a moron.

It was easy to divert my attention to Alec now; I did not want to see the skank draped all over Edward. In fact, this was the first time since we walked over to the other two that I had even paid any attention to Alec at all.

"Thanks a lot asshole," Alec shot at him, rubbing the side of his mouth with his thumb to see where he was bleeding.

"I didn't do it on purpose; it was Bella's fault," he answered him, trying to restrain his smile, but Edward was clearly pleased that he had done this to him.

"Bella can you help me with this when we get back to the cabana?" Alec asked me motioning to his injury.

"Sure," I told him sympathetically. There was something going on between Edward and Alec but there was no reason for Edward to have hit him over it; that was going a little bit overboard.

I thought I saw Edward's smile drop when I answered Alec but we were already on our way out of the pool and towards the cabana so I couldn't be sure if that was what I actually saw. Alec held his busted lip as we finally got to the cabana and sat down. When he took his sunglasses off I noticed he had a medium sized cut on his nose as well, probably from the sunglasses digging into him when he got hit. Edward and skank had joined the rest of us, and now, they were also, now, holding hands – joy.

"What happened?" Alice whispered to Edward.

He just shrugged and smiled when he saw the cut on Alec's nose. "He fell in the pool. He's fine, just being a big baby and wanting sympathy," Edward replied.

"What do you need? Do you want me to get you anything?" I asked Alec, acting a little more sympathetic than anyone else in the cabana.

I saw a brief mischievous glint in his eyes when I proposed this question. This look quickly faded when Em smacked him in the back and told him to suck it up. It was probably, also, a hint to not be looking at me in that manner; Emmett and his protectiveness.

"Ice! We need ice!" Alice exclaimed, jumping up from her seat and dragging me away with her, playing the role of the concerned cousin all of a sudden.

"You do know we can just order ice…" I started to tell her.

"Bella, cut the shit," she told me when we were far enough away, going from sweet and pleasant to agitated and annoyed in a manner of seconds. "I know what you're doing and this won't work: _do not_ get involved with Alec. You're only going to make things worse if you keep playing this game."

At this point I was thoroughly confused; what exactly was I going to make worse? "What are you talking about?" I asked, dropping the sweet and innocent act as well.

Alice rolled her eyes and loudly exhaled. "Did you really not notice _anything_ between Alec and Edward?" she asked, throwing her arms up and shaking her head.

I knew something was off between the two of them but I wasn't exactly sure what. I just stood there staring at her; I wanted to know more but I wasn't sure how to respond to her.

"You have _no_ idea the issues between the two of them – it makes whatever's going on between you and Edward look like a little squabble. They have had this insane rivalry since they were little: neither will back down nor admit they've lost and it _always_ goes too far. Edward broke his arm once because they were racing down a hill when they were younger and Alec had to get 45 stitches after a cliff jumping incident. They are literally, _retarded_, around each other and you and Edward's little game of who's over who more will not help matters," Alice explained.

That explains why they were so competitive, why Edward was so touchey feeling and why they both were being territorial. "Does Alec know about the two of us?" I asked her, a little annoyed if any of them said something to him.

She shook her head. "No but you would have to be a fucking moron not to. It's pretty evident that there's something going on between the two of you. I mean Dem even asked and he's usually too self absorbed to notice anything other than himself. Bells, keep in mind that Alec is one to the most crafty and manipulative bastards out there; he might not seem like it but he does what he wants, whenever he wants regardless of the circumstances – he's not as nice as he might seem. In fact, he can be downright ruthless – he's kinda like Jake, but worse. I mean I love him and he's great," she said with a pause, "_to me_, but I'm _always_ cautious around him - you never know what he'll do. Bella, I've seen him do some pretty bad things…"

I took in what she said as I looked back over at the cabana: Alec didn't look very manipulative, he looked rather innocent actually. I glanced over to Edward who now had the skank on his lap – she was draped all over him. I could feel my throat going dry again and that knot in my stomach was getting tighter and bigger. I checked to make sure that I wasn't tearing up and tried to maintain composure.

"You've got _no_ idea what's going on. Whatever's going on between the two of them is their thing. I can handle both of them, alright," I told Alice dismissively grabbing the ice from her.

"Bella, I'm just trying to help you out…" she began in a much kinder tone.

"I said I got it," I snapped at her, cutting her off and yelling at her all at the same time, before stomping off to the cabana.

No one seemed to have seen the _teeny,_ _tiny_ altercation with Alice, aside from Roaliee, who looked like she was trying to bite her tongue so not to say anything.

"Here," I told Alec, putting the ice up to his busted lip with a little more force than necessary and causing him to wince. I was not okay with being a trophy in for him. If I was going to be put in the middle of their feud and be used as a pawn in their game, he didn't deserve a damn gentle touch.

"Thanks," he told me. "So Bella, when are you going to come visit us? You could come to the compound for a month, bring the girls," he asked me moving a piece of hair behind my ear delicately.

At this exact moment I heard the skank giggle. The two of them seemed to be in their own little world but I knew Edward could hear and see everything that was going on. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that the two of them were getting closer to kissing which would definitely put me over the edge. She kept getting closer to him and flirting it up; her lips and body were just begging for him to kiss her but he wasn't taking the bait.

I had to step up my game with this now, even though Alec wasn't exactly on my good side at the moment. If he was going to use me, I could definitely use him. "That would be fun – we might be able to go in July or something. I'll have to see about that but I will _definitely_ come, Alecko," I told him, flirtatiously answering him back and flirtatiously flicking him on the nose which caused him to laugh.

"Well you absolutely must. I would just love to show you around the island: it's small but very quaint and cozy," he said cozying up to me in the process, placing his arm around my waist and pulling me closer and slightly nuzzling my ear. "It's very romantic too," he continued as he now nuzzled my neck.

Alice seemed to have cooled down a little and stomped back to the cabana, plopping down next to Rose with a frown plastered across her face and her arms crossed across her chest. She was over hiding her feelings on what was going on.

I wasn't exactly pleased with what he was doing, I was in no mood to be nuzzled by anyone and least of all Alec, but I went along with it. "Well, then I just _must_ come," I replied back with a little less enthusiasm. At this point I really was acting like I was bipolar, feeling one thing and doing another.

I glanced back over to Edward and the skank who were getting even closer to each other – this time Edward didn't seem as restrained as he had been initially. Her lips lightly brushed his and then her lips engulfed his and she seemed to go to town. I waited half a second to see if he would push her away but he didn't: he just let it all happen, in front of everyone – in front of me. I had three choices now: I could do nothing and sit there like this wasn't happening. I could do the exact same thing with Alec and continue this game we had going, which I didn't particularly want to do since this was all just a sham to beat Edward which sort of disgusted me. Or I could just leave. But the longer I stayed and considered my options, the more my stomach grew tighter and I felt liquid rising up in my throat. The decision was made for me because throwing up in front of everyone was _not_ an option. I knew the further I got from the cabana I got the better I'd feel…so, I got up and bolted. I didn't even bother grabbing my stuff; I just left and headed straight for the exit.

I quickly walked out of the pool area, not glancing once behind; no one seemed to have followed but I still hauled ass down to the beach. I was soon intercepted by Rosalie and Alice though.

"Not now," I told them, continuing to storm down the beach but I could feel myself losing steam and the burning sensation in my throat coming back: the tears were on their way and I wasn't sure how much longer I'd be able to keep them back.

"Of course not now, not ever, right Bella? You just keep running away from your problems: that's what you do best anyway," Rosalie yelled at me.

I paused for a second listening to what she had to say.

"You keep doing this, getting everyone involved and then just bolting and leaving us to clean up your mess. Real mature Bells. You might just be the most selfish person I've ever met. You don't consider anyone's feeling accept your own and how you can best use the situation to your advantage. You don't care how any of this affects us," Rose continued.

"In a way, you're no different than Alec with his stupid feud with Edward. It's petty and juvenile – grow up," Alice added on to Rose's rant.

Hearing this, I couldn't control the tears anymore. My best friends were giving up on me now too. So I lost my boyfriend and now my best friends. I felt a couple stray teas run down my face before the real waterworks started. I somehow forced myself to start walking down the beach again.

I head splashes in the tide behind me following me down the beach. "Seriously Bella I can't do this anymore with you. You keep running away from your problems and making things worse for you: I don't think I can be involved anymore. This is all too much, even for me," Alice called out in a much softer voice than before.

"Alice don't even bother, she's too far up her own ass to care about us or see that the fallout of her actions affect other people," Rosalie said, stopping Alice from approaching me.

To hear that they were actually giving up on me too… I couldn't take anymore. I let out a small inaudible sob.

"Come on, let's go clean up her fucking mess, again," Rose exclaimed. "We tried, we even brought her on this trip when we didn't want to and it didn't even snap her out it," she said to Alice.

"I guess we'll deal with this when we get home," Alice said in a defeated voice.

"Do you think that I want to be like this?" I said, turning around and facing them, tears still coming down my face.

Something clicked in me, either that or this was my last attempt to get them to understand – to see that I wasn't fucking nuts. I wanted _someone_ to not give up on me.

"You have no idea what it's been like for me," I told them.

"Of course we don't because you haven't told us anything: something happened with you and Edward – get over it," Alice said rather loudly and annoyed.

This comment took be totally by surprise. From Rose I expected this type of attitude but not from Alice. She must have really been at her breaking point with me.

"I _told_ you not to mess with Alec, about his and Edward's rivalry, but that didn't stop you did it? No, you just stepped up your game being all flirty with him so you could compete against Edward. You continued playing your game and then you lost. I told you about the rivalry to protect you but you didn't want to listen. Did you think that Edward was just going to play nice because you were there? You're his _ex-girlfriend_ who was all over his _cousin_ – _come on_ Bella. You just made that worse and made him do things to deliberately hurt you because he felt cornered. That was below the belt especially when you know their history," Alice scolded.

I couldn't take it anymore: being attacked, scolded and on top of that, they were both taking _his_ side. Tears were now streaming down my face; I couldn't hold back anymore. This feeling was worse than finding out about Edward. I could handle losing a boyfriend but losing my best friends, who have been there for me through thick and thin… that I really couldn't handle.

"It was all _a lie_: he _slept_ with someone else. Happy now? I finally told you; does that change things for you now?" I yelled back at them in between sobs.

Both of them stood there stunned into silence and staring blankly at me. I sank down in the sand and faced out towards the ocean. They stood where they were for a couple minutes letting everything sink in. I had told them what happened and the world didn't implode and I was still standing...well, sitting; I was a little shocked.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you sure?" both Alice and Rose asked me at the same time.

I nodded my head. "I walked in on them," I told them weakly, watching the tide go in and out, unable to look at them.

"With who?" Alice said through gritted teeth as she came and sat down next to me.

I gulped before answering. "Victoria – on the night of the god damn charity date," I muttered.

I saw them exchange a look.

"I mean, I guess after the other stuff that's happened I should have figured out that everything involving Edward was just a grand pissing match between the two of them – today was just another example of that. He just has to win everything…" I wept. God, I felt like the biggest moron ever.

"Victoria? Are you sure?" Alice asked.

"No, forget that. What do you mean 'other stuff'?" Rose asked, dismissing Alice's question and coming to sit on the other side of me.

I stared at my lap now, nervously making shapes in the sand with my hands – I hadn't meant to say that. I didn't want to let them know about _all_ the crap that's gone on with Edward. I just wanted to tell them about what happened on the night of the charity gala. So I treaded lightly and pretended to not even hear Rosalie's question and started to answer Alice's.

"I'm positive. I walked in on them when he was getting ice. Victoria answered the door all she was wearing was his shirt and _literally_ nothing else. Their clothes were everywhere, the bed was a mess with the covers thrown all over – I mean she even told me," I further elaborated.

As I explained this to them I felt all the same emotions rush over me like they had that night. The deception, the anger, the sadness but most of all the devastating loss of someone I loved. The look on his face when I found out, it had looked saddened as well but he caused this and knew what he had gotten himself into. I was in utter shambles that night and now I was feeling that way again.

"Rewind: _what stuff_?" Rosalie pressed authoritatively– she was not going to easily drop this. "What _else_ happened?"

"It was something with Jake, wasn't it?" Alice said, as if a light bulb just turned on.

I slumped my head even more with this sudden insight and slowly nodded my head. I really didn't want to say it.

"Is it about the Roofie?" Rose asked, growing angrier.

I shook my head; I felt like Lassie trying to communicate with only head movements.

"No, it had to have been when you were at his house when you were calling things off; it was before the two of you got together," Alice stated, confident in her answer.

I wiped some more tears from my puffy eyes. The surprised sensation I felt that she even remember this temporarily stopped the tears from coming. "How did you know?" I asked her.

"You were acting weird that night and more readily accepted drinks than you usually did when you came back from his place. And you were distant; acting strange the rest of the night, especially whenever Edward's name was brought up," Alice explained, "especially when I got that text from him that night – you got real quiet after that."

Alice looked at me like she was waiting for me to confirm what she just said. I really didn't want to but it was the truth: that's where the distrust for Edward really stemmed from. I nodded my head to confirm. "It started that night," I said taking a deep breath and bracing myself. "I went to Jacob's to tell him we were done and things got a little more intense than usual. I mean I did what I normally did around him, challenging him and pushing his buttons but something was different that time; that time it got more physical," I explained, somehow growing calmer and not crying the more I explained.

"He hit you?" Rose exclaimed, outraged.

"No… he didn't hit me but he was very forceful and held me down so I couldn't leave. He wouldn't let go of my arm and kept squeezing them harder as time passed and I tried to get away. I had bruises on my arms for the following weeks," I told them.

"That's why you were so weird about showing your arms that night and why you wore a sweatshirt to sleep," Alice interjected, half talking to herself and half talking to us.

I nodded again. "I mean it wasn't that bad looking back now but I never thought that Jacob would get like that: getting that physical to where I thought he would actually hurt me. I mean if he was willing to do that who knows what else he was willing to do when he got angry. And that thought alone was more chilling than anything – the _possibility_ that he was capable of more. He seemed remorseful after the fact but that didn't mean much," I continued.

"Now, how exactly is Edward involved?" Rose asked gently, not wanting to interrupt but wanting to get back to the initial point.

"He was there – not the whole time – but for the last, and most important part. He knew and saw everything. He saw what Jacob did and did nothing – he just stood idly by and watched. It was like he was okay with what Jacob had done and again it was the same thing – if he was okay with that what else would he be okay with? Would he ever do that to me? What he actually did was much worse though – physical scars heal, emotional ones might never mend," I said, going off on a side tangent. I snapped back to what we were talking about realizing that I had deviated from that. "I saw Edward and then I left – the two of them went out afterwards. Since that night things seemed to change between Edward and me: he started acting a lot nicer, being more polite and trying to get on my good side, it was almost like he had an ulterior motive. After a while I had sort of forgot about all this but always had this Jacob thing in the back of my mind. When then this Victoria thing happened, it became clear that all of this was just a competition between him and Jacob. Some challenge was most likely proposed that night they went out about me and it went from there. Edward always acted differently around him, actually they _both_ acted differently around each other, like I was the prize they were trying to win. It was always about who could one up the other person – it was never about their feelings for me: I was just a game – much like today. I suppose all of this competition stuff with Alec just further reinforced this theory," I concluded as if I was in a haze. It was like I was telling them but not actually present as I told them the story.

"But he never said anything like this to any of us," Alice said puzzled.

"Why would he? It wouldn't exactly paint him in the best light," I said blankly moving my foot around in the sand to distract myself. "I thought there may have been something more, that _actual_ feelings were involved, but after today… I mean if you ever had feelings for someone, even a little, you wouldn't be all over some random girl in front of that person you supposedly cared about," I said, feeling some resentment and sadness swell up again. I could feel the tears coming again; the brief respite of crying was now over.

Just thinking about the fact that this was a lie and how I'd been duped into falling for him, into actually loving him… I couldn't take that. Of all the things that had happened, the fact that I loved him was the worst.

"You've been keeping this entire thing secret for the last five months?" Rose asked, shocked.

I nodded again; I supposed though that I had only been keeping the competition theory a secret for the past couple weeks.

"Now," Alice said, trepidatiously, "I know you won't want to hear this but I think you should really talk to Edward about all this."

Rose looked about ready to slap her for saying this – like she couldn't believe those words had just come out of her mouth.

"Just hear me out before saying hell no immediately: talk to him about the night with Victoria because," she said, choosing her words carefully, "I'm not sure if what you think happened actually did. Even Rose could attest to that," Alice stated.

Rosalie grumbled as she thought about it. "That is true; he, honestly, looked just as confused as the two of us when you ran off. He couldn't figure out what had happened. We went in the room with him, after you left, and Victoria was on the bed but she was fully dressed – in her own clothes – and the room liked like a maid had just cleaned up. I'm not saying that he's in the clear but she could have been the one lying," Rose hypothesized begrudgingly.

"So could he," I said flatly. "She could have cleaned the room up on her own after I left because she realized everyone else was on their way up and they didn't want to get caught. He, _easily_, could have lied."

"That's even more reason to talk to him then," Alice interjected.

"No," I said, without even giving it a second thought.

"I really think this is all just a misunderstanding," Alice said again.

Why was she taking his side – _I_ was the wronged party here_. I_ was the victim. I glanced to Rosalie to see if she agreed with Alice but I couldn't read her expression: she looked torn between what I had told her and the stuff he had probably said.

"Maybe…" Rose started as well.

"No!" I firmly told them getting up from the sand. I couldn't let myself be optimistic and get my hopes up over this – that all of this was just a stupid misunderstanding. I had invested too much to just let my heart get trampled again by false hope. I don't think I could go through getting my break broken again. Breaking it once was possibly fixable; twice though? That was irreconcilable.

"Look, I'm sorry that that I've kept this from you for so long but it's something I needed to work out on my own. I mean Mike doesn't even know about the stuff with Jacob, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything," I told them. "And, _please_ just drop the Edward stuff – I beg you."

I couldn't handle the pressure of them still wanting to discuss all of this. I had spilled everything to them and I felt drained. I couldn't take it; I couldn't argue anymore.

"And don't follow me – I need some time by myself. I'll figure out a way back to the hotel," I told them as I began to walk.

"You love him, don't you," Alice called out.

I just kept walking and tried to keep my head up – not wanting them to see that what she said was true as the tears continued down my cheek.

**okay, what'd you guys think. it was a little heavier than the last chapter. hopefully you guys liked it as much as the other one. :/ the next chapter will be mexico from edward pov. i know this one was very much in bella's head so the next chapter will give you a little more insight into what was going through edward's head.**

**what did you guys think of the playlist and suits? you think it was fitting? can't wait to hear from you guys!**


	35. A Change for the Better

**alrighty, so i wanted to apologize for not getting the chapter out earlier. i had an, unexpected death in my immediate family, which hit me kind hard and threw a wrench in my writing to say the least. I hope you guys understand. this also changed the course of this chapter, it's no longer in mexico but back in forks a couple weeks afterwards. i might do Edward's pov as an outtake but I'm not sure yet - I wanted to let you guys know though.**

**i wanted to say a big big thank you for everyone who's stuck by the story, commented, pmed, reviewed, all of that. it means a lot. you guys are amazing, thank you, thank you, thank you**

**i've done another playlist for this chapter - i hope you guys like it. it can be found on my homepage. again, if anyone knows how to link up a playlist to the site, i would love to know as well so you guys don't have to go back and forth between**

**also, a HUMONGOUS thank you to pennylane, guuuurrrrl, you rock!**

**without further delay...**

EPOV

"Edward," I heard Emmett calling from the front of the house.

I had woken up a little while ago but kept my eyes closed, giving the appearance of still being asleep. I reached for my phone and put my earbuds in; I wasn't in the mood to be dealing with Emmett. Actually, I hadn't been in the mood to deal with either Jasper or he since we'd gotten back from Mexico. For the last three weeks they had been pushy and all in my business, wanting to make sure I was okay and making sure my "inner playa", as Emmett referred to it, was coming out.

And I wasn't in the mood for questions or for the prying. I was feeling the strain and didn't know how much longer I could keep up with this whole act.

"Yo homie," Emmett called out, busting into my room and yanking out my earbuds.

He held one up to his ear. "Are you even listening to anything? How come you weren't responding?" he inquired.

"Because I was ignoring you," I told him flatly. "What do you want?"

He plopped down on the bed next to me. "I wanted to see if you wanted to, perhaps, come to practice early with me. I'm still doing damage control with Rose and with Prom coming up I want to be in her good graces. You know she's still not really speaking, or acknowledging, me so I figured I could talk to her before cheer. It's been a total cold front with her," he rambled.

"You mean corner her?" I said with a knowing intonation and tone.

"Same thing," he commented back with a shrug.

"Is Jazz going?"I asked.

He shook his head. "I believe his response was hurling his alarm clock at my head – so I'd say that's a no," he commented.

I silently chuckled. Emmett should have known that would have been his response; Jasper Hale was not a morning person.

I mulled over his proposition; it wouldn't be awful if I went early, I could get in some extra training since I had been severely slacking. I had been in such a funk since we got back from the trip; I barely did anything at practice, just sort of half-assing it the whole time. But practicing probably wasn't going to happen if I went with him. Instead of training, I would most likely be stuck in the middle of Em's suck up session to Rose and I had to be around her enough. Especially, since, lately, she's been even more agitated and annoyed at me than usual.

On second thought, it was probably best to stay here. "I think I'll wait for Sleeping Beauty over there to get up and we can head over together," I told him.

Em did not like that answer, making a face at me as he got out of bed.

"What? I'm not the one who's got to kiss some major ass right now – that's all you and your crazy girlfriend. As I've told you a million times since we got back: I'm not getting involved in this. I've got enough of my own problems," I continued.

For a second he looked like he was going to continue with his plea but then decided against it. "Fine," he pouted, exhaling loudly. "But we're supposed to be at practice in like 45 minutes anyway, so get a move on," he said walking out the door. "I'm out, text me when you're on your way."

I nodded my head as he left but not before he slammed the door shut for good measure and to give Jazz a little jostle. I heard grumbling and a slew of obscenities coming from Jasper's cave as soon as the door slammed. He'd be up shortly and probably not in the best of moods. I made my way downstairs and into the family room, giving Jasper some time to cool off before he unleashed on the nearest victim. I grabbed some orange juice and plopped down on the sofa, flipping through the channels to find anything to watch.

With 1000 different channels you would think that something would be on. I wanted something mindless to watch to take my mind off of things. Right now was the only real time I had to relax and decompress. I had practice soon and after that Alice and I were working on our Biology project which would be laced with questions I did not want to think about, let alone answer. So like I said, something mindless was key – if that could be found. I kept flipping until I came upon Jersey Shore; it was perfect.

I heard a thud. "Fuck!" Jasper yelled as he came into the kitchen. Oh, he was in a delightful mood.

He shuffled down the stairs and hobbled into the kitchen after a couple of minutes. He must have tripped coming down the stairs, which accounted for the limping. He held his broken alarm clock by the cord as he came in.

"Have a fight with your alarm clock this morning?" I teased with a half smile still watching the TV.

"Have a fight with the alarm clock," he mumbled, mockingly trying to imitate my voice. "Fuck off," he growled, opening the fridge and getting a bottle of water.

"I see someone's in a great mood," I said amused.

"Just about as good as you're going to have all day with Alice around asking about Bella and your damn feelings incessantly," he spat back.

Well, that was a little harsh. I felt some of the light heartedness I had woken up with fade away. Guess I should have seen that coming. He was right - it was going to be a rough day with all the leading questions and probing, knowing looks Alice would defiantly be giving me. She wanted to know how I was doing and what was going on with me – and that was something I didn't want to talk about and had been avoiding. And the fact that she could read me so very well did not help matters. I felt my forehead crease with concern the more I thought about it.

Jasper noticed my shift, even in his groggy morning haze. "Sorry, that was unnecessary. You know how I am in the morning. I've got no filter and I turn into Rose," he said in a softer tone.

I knew he didn't mean it – but that didn't mean what he said didn't have validity. He glanced at the microwave. I followed his focus to the clock; we were supposed to be at practice in 15 minutes.

"Shit! I'm gonna go change for practice," he said, back in his usual Jasper ease – totally unconcerned that we were going to be late if he didn't hurry. He never stressed about being on time: he would get there when he got there, even if that meant he was late.

I hung out on the couch a little longer, clicking off the TV five minutes later. I gathered my stuff and threw it into the foyer.

"Are you ready to go? Coach is going to ream us if we're late," I yelled up the stairs at Jazz.

"I'm comin," he said, tossing his bag next to mine as he came down the stairs and walked into the kitchen.

I followed him into the kitchen, watching as he pondered what to get from the fridge. He took his time, staring into the fridge and deciding what to eat.

"Ahem," I said, clearing my throat as a signal I was waiting for him.

He just ignored me and continued searching for something to eat. I walked out of the kitchen, grabbing both of our gym bags and throwing them out the door in an attempt to rush him.

"Seriously, if you're not in the car in one minute I'm leaving without you," I told him, walking out the door and towards Esme's Range Rover. Neither my, nor Jasper's car, had enough room for our stuff, my backpack, equipment and us. I threw our stuff in the back and got into the driver's seat.

I starred at dash board clock watching the seconds tick down as my finger nervously tapped against the steering wheel. Unlike Jasper, I _did_ care about when we got to practice and didn't want to be late. As soon as the big hand twitched into place, signifying the minute was over, I threw the car into drive and made my way down the circular driveway. I was half way out the gate when Jasper finally made his way out the front door and began running towards the car, with the PopTart in his mouth.

He mumbled something but it was masked by the pastry in his mouth. He flung open the door. "Uckhead," I deciphered as he settled in the car, chewing on said PopTart.

I smirked; he might not have been a happy camper right now but at least I was amused. And this was a rarity. Nothing seemed to really interest me and I had been in a perpetual bad mood. Of course I put on my happy face but I knew everyone knew this wasn't how I was actually feeling. No one really raised questions to the legitimacy of my behavior - it was an unspoken understanding: as long as they didn't ask if I was okay I would keep pretending that everything was alright.

"Was that really necessary? We'll be there with plenty of time to spare," Jasper stated.

"And by plenty of time you mean two minutes?" I replied back.

"Exactly," he stated ending that conversation.

He took out his box of cigarettes, rolling down the window and lighting up. This wasn't unusual, though, with the baby on the way he had drastically cut down.

"She's going to be able to tell you smoked in here," I told him.

He shrugged but then nodded his head in agreement but didn't stop smoking. "Just to warn you, Bella might be at school today or at the house after practice. We have to work on our Bio project and we can't go to her house," Jazz alerted me.

Well, that accounted for all the smoking; he needed to calm his nerves. I tapped my thumb against the edge off the steering wheel absentmindedly again. Jasper looked over at me through the corner of his eyes to see how I was taking this. This was yet another symptom of everyone pretending I was okay: since I wasn't discussing how I was actually feeling and bottling everything up, they didn't know how I was going to react to things- what would set me off. For instance, earlier this week someone had handed me the wrong color highlighter, even though I hadn't told them the color I wanted, and I totally went off on the guy. To say I was on edge was putting it lightly.

I tensed up. Actually, it seemed like whenever Bella was mentioned these days I always tensed up.

"Okay," I answered him, trying to keep my focus by staring at the road ahead and continuing my thumb tapping.

He had finished the cigarette and immediately lit up another. He peered over at me, again, out of the corner of his eye as he shifted around in his seat. He wanted to say more but seemed nervous about it. He took another long drag, going through the second cigarette rather quickly, and flicked the butt out the window. "Have you guys talked at all since the trip?" he asked, trying to play this question off causally.

He was not good at this. Casual nosiness was not something Jasper did, he was straight up and direct; this had Alice and Rosalie written all over it. They had to have convinced him or somehow roped him into doing this as a reparation act to get back into their good graces.

"I see her when I see her; if we talk we talk - that's it," I answered him stoically.

He thought about how to respond, shifting around more in his seat. He kept opening his mouth and shutting it, uncertain of what to say and then seemed to give just up. "Fuck it; dude, are you okay? They wanted me to be all covert and girl about this but that's just not me and I suck at that. So, I'm just going to do this my way. What's going on with you? You've been basically mute since the trip and about everything that's happened - have you even brought up the whole Alec thing to Bella?" he asked, dropping the façade.

I wanted to be mad at him for bringing this up but I wasn't for some reason. Maybe it was the way he had asked, just being so direct and open, or maybe I was just ready to deal with this and talk to someone about it. Well, talk about it as best I could. "There's nothing to bring up. We're not together so she can date whomever she'd like…" I said trying to steady my voice. "Even if it is that douche of a cousin I have. I mean, I don't even care," I barked, anger and agitation seeping into my calm front.

"Uh, it doesn't exactly sound that way…" he told me.

"Whatever; believe what you want to," I muttered angrily, tapping my thumb against the steering wheel a little faster.

"I'm just trying to help. You haven't been yourself since we got back, which I get, but this isn't you…" he started.

I cut him off. "Remember, you were the ones who wanted me to go out and date and forget all about Bella, so that's what I'm doing. I know you're all concerned but there's nothing to be concerned about," I said firmly.

"Edward…" he started again.

I cut him off again. "Look, I was going to try to talk to her but she hasn't been around – she's been doing god knows what. She's almost never there during lunch or afterwards and she's hardly at school. What do you want me to do, track her down? So I'm doing what you all told me to do. What, did you all change your minds now?" I spat at him, lashing out. I knew that was uncalled for but I was getting worked up and couldn't help myself.

"No," Jasper said in a very calm tone – the complete opposite of my tone. "I think it's good that you're moving on. I just think it would be helpful for you to talked to her. If you don't say what you're thinking, in a calm and rationale way mind you, this is just going to keep eating at you. Besides, you're going to be involved in each other's lives for a while so you two need to at least be civil," he continued, trying to calm me down and reason with me.

I took a couple deep breathes and tried to relax. I had allowed myself to get worked up over this and now I was just seeing red – good thing we were on our way to practice and I could let out some of this aggression. This was the very reason I didn't allow myself to think about Bella and our situation because I couldn't control my emotions. There was too much going on; I had suppressed my feelings so much that just alluding to Bella and what's gone on with us could set me off. I guess there really was something to the thought that letting things fester and not talking them out only makes them worse in the end.  
"We're here," I said getting out of the car and slamming the door shut but in a softer tone.

He was just trying to help, I knew that, but I couldn't control how I reacted. I was actually surprised they had waited this long to approach me about this. I needed to settle down. I forced myself to focus on other things, a method I used to distract myself. I observed the surroundings, looking at the parking lot and who was there. There were a fair amount of cars there for a Saturday, none in the main lot really, they were all by the field. I saw a bunch of the cars of guys on the team and from the cheer squad. Alice's Porsche was sitting in the coach's parking like it normally did on practice days. I took a couple more focused, deep breaths and seemed to be back to normal: my normal sublimated state.

"I grabbed the bags. Can you take the sticks?" Jasper asked, in a peace offering type of way.

I nodded, accepting his gesture. "No prob," I told him.

"And sorry," he began to say apologetically.

"Don't worry about it – I know you meant to help," I told him as we walked towards the field, trying to get him to drop it.

There were a few guys from lacrosse and basketball hanging out before their practice started. Some were stretching, others were chatting and checking out the cheerleaders. Em was the only one actually hanging out with the squad though; he was rounding them up and making sure they were all there. I scanned the group quickly but saw that neither Alice nor Rosalie were there.

"Ey," Emmett called out to us and motioned with his head for us to come over.

We dropped our stuff off at the bleachers, saying a quick hello to the guys and then to the squad, before heading towards him.

"So I see you found your true calling, cheer captain," Jasper teased.

"Ha, fucking, ha," Em commented back. "I'm just helping them out until the girls get back - they wanted to start promptly at 11. They had to go to the car for something."

I glanced at my phone. Practice would be starting in three minutes and we needed to go. Besides, I needed to start burning off this unwanted aggression so the sooner practice started the better. I might have been able to compose myself on the outside but inside I was still seething.

"Coach is going…" I started to say but stopped as the other two approached us. It was no use now, we had to stay.

"Got it," Alice stated before realizing we were there. "Morning you two."

Rosalie just gave us a nod of recognition. We lived in the same house and had the same friends; there was no need to acknowledge each other every time we were together. It was something to celebrate if we _weren't _around each other.

"Let me see," Em said excited, yanking the iPad out from Alice's hands and scrolling through the pictures.

Rose gave him a disapproving look and he handed the device back over to Alice. This, too, was part of his punishment for the whole Mexico trip. I wondered how long Rose was going to keep this up. She did like controlling the situation but this was going on three weeks – either forgive the guy or don't, but don't keep fucking with him just because you can.

"Sorry," he said apologizing more to Rosalie than Alice.

Jasper rolled his eyes and let out an exacerbated sigh. He was getting annoyed with the whole puppy dog act as well. "So what are we looking at?" he inquired, dismissing the apology altogether.

"The pictures from Bella's _Bazaar_ photoshoot – she just got the proofs and emailed them to me," Alice explained.

The pictures from the photoshoot? I remembered something briefly being mentioned last week about this but I had tried to tune it out. At the moment, talking, thinking and most definitely, seeing the pictures was something I did not want to do. That was just what I needed to look at: pictures of Bella looking stunning, which I knew she would, just as soon as I had sort of simmered down. What exactly were my supposed friends trying to do to me?

"Here they are," Alice said pulling up the email and scrolling through the pictures quickly.

"Wow," Jasper said, almost as if he was surprised that she would look that good.

"I didn't know Drew Barrymore and Kate Hudson were going to be in the shoot," Emmett said. "They're…" and then he stopped himself before completing that thought and smiling sweetly at Rose.

"Nice save," I whispered in his ear with a stilted laugh.

"_Anyway_," Rosalie said dismissing Emmett's comment, "they're in the film with Renee so they were doing a mother/daughter shoot – which is why their moms are in it as well. The theme of the shoot was really cool: everyday living mixed with haute couture. I love the grocery shopping pic with just Bells and Renee."

Alice scrolled until she got to that picture in particular. It was gorgeous. Bella was in this tiered, multicolored, gown - which sort of looked like a flower - with soft makeup and her hair in a messy up-do with lots of volume. She reached for a box of cereal while Renee, in a chocolate colored dress that basically looked the opposite of Bella's – full on top while the bottom was more streamline – pushed a grocery cart. It really was a great picture but I didn't get fashion magazines; why would anyone ever go shopping in those types of dresses or think it would be a good idea to film people like that? It really made no sense to me at all.

"Damn, I wish I could wear that," Rose sighed, envy bubbling through.

"The one with Kate, Drew and Bella's really pretty as well – the close up of them laughing," Alice said, moving her finger and scrolling to that picture. "But I don't know if they'll use this because they're going for such a high fashion look with the shoot."

"They should," I whispered, barely able to hear myself say that.

I glanced down at the picture – this one was hardest to look at. It looked like Bella in her usual state. Well, it _used_ to be her usual before all this shit went down. It was a much simpler than all the other photographs: it was just Bella being Bella. I mean the photo was _absolutely_ stunning, she was in a light blue sequined gown with a plunging neckline and cascading hair, but she just looked effortless. I had been stunned into silence when I really looked at this picture in particular.

I couldn't tear my eyes away from the picture even though I tried. The more I looked at it, the more I let myself slip back into longing to be with her - to be with the old Bella. At first I felt oddly calm, like just looking at the picture had a soothing affect on me. The more I thought about it, though, the calmness turned into sadness; that this was what we had turned into. We couldn't even be in the same room together anymore without throw downs occurring.

"Dude, come on!" Emmett yelled, halfway down the field. "Coach is fuckin pissed!"

When the hell had he gotten that far away? Wasn't he just standing right next to me looking at the picture as well? I looked down and noticed that I was now holding the iPad and the picture was adjusted so that Bella was the only person in the frame. Had I done that and not even noticed it?

"Are you alright?" Alice asked gently.

I shook my head to snap myself out of this. It took me a second or two to focus on what Alice was saying. "Yea, I'm good," I said, giving her a smile and handing her the iPad.

"_Are you_…" she began, giving me a questioning look.

"I'm good," I said firmly, cutting her off. "I'll see you after practice and we'll work on the project," I told her before I jogged over to the field.

I needed to quell the sadness and longing that had resurged again and I could think of no better way of doing that than having lacrosse practice. I could focus on physical pain instead of the emotional one that was cutting me much worse.

Breathing was the only thing I focused on – I was exhausted. I sat on the bench, panting, and pouring water over my head in an attempt to cool down. This, quite possibly, had been the hardest I'd ever gone at a practice in order to totally forget all my emotional baggage. Coach had been thrilled with this and had even told the rest of the team that they should "have my type of spirit and enthusiasm." Ha! Spirit and enthusiasm my ass; more like pushing myself to get to a physical breaking point so I wouldn't have to deal with my emotional one.

Emmett and Jasper cautiously approached me. I had been more than a little rough with them, taking my aggression out more on them than anyone else on the team. At one point I had run, full speed, into Jazz, knocking him down to the floor and not even looking back to see if he was alright. That had caused me some pain as well but I wanted that pain. Me and my deflection techniques. I think at this point I would rather gouge my eye out than think about Bella.

"Coach wants us to shower and then meet up in the locker room for strategy analysis for the game on Tuesday," Jasper said.

I nodded, unable to do anything more because my body was just that tired. I did what was expected of me, being the good Co-Captain, until practice was officially over. I showered – though I didn't really want to because that took too much energy and even though it was a nice locker room, it was still the school locker room. I listened to the coach and assisted in figuring out a game plan for next week, and even gave a semi-enthusiastic grunt when Coach talked about destroying the other team. I did it all, going through the motions, but I knew it just wasn't reading as being believable.

My theory on exhausting myself until I could no longer think wasn't exactly working out the way I had intended. This had not left me so tired that my exhaustion was the only thing I could focus on but instead brought this whole fucked up mess to the forefront. I was too tired to keep my walls up; I didn't have the mental capacity to make sure my shields stayed in place. Instead, I was left totally exposed and open – something that I had not been in a long time and did not want to be, especially when I'd be spending the rest of the day with Alice. She would be able to read me without question and I would be unable to deflect any of her inquiries. Oh yes, I was fucked.

"Ready to go?" Em asked, treading lightly incase I was about to lash out at him.

"Yeah," I answered him softly. "And sorry for hitting you in the side and chest with the crosse – didn't mean to."

"Oh yes you did," he answered me. "No problem bro; just watch out when I'm having a bad day next time," he said with a grin.

He looked as if he was going to say more but we were already by the girls. Emmett and Jazz went off to find Rose while I hung around for Alice to finish gathering her stuff so we could go.

"Remember," Jasper called out as a reminder.

"I know – thanks," I replied back. As if I'd forget that Bella was going to be at my house all day long: that wasn't very likely. "Ready?" I asked, turning towards Alice.

"Actually…" she said looking down.

Was I actually going to be able to get out of the marathon questioning session today? It sure as hell looked like it. A flitter of relief crossed my face which I tried to contain.

"I've got to stay here; there's a big student council fiasco going on and as the damn president I've got to take care of this. The hotel for Prom is undergoing a major remodel and just told us this. I guess a stupid fucking pipe burst and flooded a couple of floors ruining the carpet and older wood; they figured this was an optimal time to remodel. I mean honestly, why do _all_ these things happen to _my_ administration?" she exclaimed, exacerbated.

The feeling of relief was now turning into a smile. I felt the hint of a smile coming as the corners of my mouth slightly turned up. Of course Alice was able to turn a freak flood into some kind of administrative conspiracy against her presidency. This was one of the crazy yet endearing things about her. The fact that I was on my own for the rest of the day and in the clear for not answering questions had made my day; it was a small victory but I would take what I could.

"Oh shit. Are you going to be able to work this out?" I asked, semi concerned over Alice's stress level but mostly elated over the change in plans today. "Do you want me to stay to help out?"

She considered it for a moment and then shook her head. "Thanks, but no; one of us needs to go work on the project so we don't fail. We have to find a specimen and that could take a while," she stated.

"Alright," I sighed, relieved she didn't want me to stay. I didn't even know why I offered to help out – maybe reverse psychology?

"So head up to the lake by your house; even though it's a bit of a hike to get there, it's close and there should be plenty of viable options there: maybe some algae or something bacterial," she explained. "We can meet up when I get done. I'm not sure when that will be precisely, though, so I'll give you a call. Happy hunting," she said, walking towards the main buildings of the school.

"Thanks," I replied, walking towards the car and lugging my stuff into the Rover.

Off towards the woods I drove, not looking forward to the hike I had ahead of me. This wasn't exactly what I wanted to do today but at least I'd get to be alone. All alone... with my rampant thoughts – joy. I turned on the radio scanning for anything good. Anything would have really worked but nothing was on. It took a good couple minutes before I found one that I liked, Billy Joel's Vienna. He resonated with me; I never really knew why.

_Too bad but it's the life you lead; you're so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need.  
Though you can see when you're wrong, you know you can't always see when you're right._

_You got your passion you got your pride, but don't you know that only fools are satisfied?  
Dream on but don't imagine they'll all come true.  
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you_

I sang without even realizing it. This song was just so hopeful – about moving on and stopping to realize that everything would, eventually, be okay. Maybe this was just something I needed to hear since hopefulness was not something I had been as of late. Why couldn't I just move on with my life and leave all this stuff in the past? Why couldn't I just be in fucking Vienna now; why couldn't I be in my happy place?

Sure, there were things that I had done wrong and needed to own up to, a lot of that being in Mexico, but that was not something I had to confront before being able to finally let go. It wasn't like I _owed_ anyone anything; I didn't need to explain myself to anyone – Bella above anyone else. She was not an innocent bystander. I mean, at least _I_ didn't hook up with one of her cousins. Really, of all people in the world – _him_!

It made my stomach turn just thinking about that. My thumb started thumping against the steering wheel. Of _all_ the people in Mexico, she just _had_ to go for Alec. That day at the pool was unbearable; it was almost as bad as seeing her with Jake. And at dinner that night he was _all_ over her. She didn't seem as enthusiastic about it as earlier in the day but it wasn't like she was pushing him away either. At least I had brought that blonde…er, whatever her name was, with me as a distraction. She wasn't able to hold my attention which was what I was hoping for, but no one could really do that when Bella was in the room.

The blonde's presence there did serve some purpose in pissing off Bella which made her being there worth it. I flirted, playing the role of the "playa" Jasper and Emmett tried to make me into. I kissed, and even made out, with the blonde to make it believable. I needed to make Bella believe it, and in a way, I guess I just wanted to hit her below the belt, the way she made me feel when I saw her with Alec. But seeing him touch her, stroking her hair and touching her hand, the way I used to… I just couldn't handle it. It was childish and stupid but I wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine.

No – I couldn't think of this anymore; I wouldn't let myself. I abruptly stopped the car, turning off the song in the process, as I zoomed into the private lot that led up to the woods. Maybe if the song was off I would be able to get Bella out of my head. I rested my head against the headrest and closed my eyes for a minute. Alice was right, it would be a hike to get to the desired location and I needed to rest a little more before stepping outside of the car.

I finally motivated myself enough to get out of the car, reasoning that the sooner I got a specimen the sooner I could go home and sleep. I threw on my sweatshirt and backpack from the backseat and got out of the car. I took in the sights and sounds of the woods before blasting my iPod as I trudged up the muddy trail: it had rained a couple days ago and the ground was still soft. Aside from the soggy ground it was a nice hike; it was a good day to be doing this – crisp and clear, not a cloud in the sky. I tried to stay focused on my surroundings and the music pulsating in my ears – staying in the moment, concentrating on actually making my body move and not allowing my mind to drift. But something was going to break because I was just too tired. I couldn't focus control both my physical and emotional states – it took too much energy. I had to keep moving, that wasn't a question, so the physical state beat out my emotional one. Eventually, my mind couldn't help but wander back to Bella… again.

I was really getting sick and tired of denying how I felt. It wasn't fair that I couldn't communicate that to anyone. I was resentful over the fact that people just wanted me to move on because they wanted to be more at ease and not in the middle of this. I was just supposed to be better and move on – fuck off, who can just do that? I resented the fact that I had to pretend that I was over our relationship just for my friends' benefit. And I was fucking pissed that I was getting blamed by Bella for ending our relationship when I didn't do _anything_ wrong. This wasn't fair that I had to keep my mouth shut and just play nice. This most likely wasn't their intention, to make me feel like I had to hide what I was actually feeling from them, but I couldn't help but blame them a little for this. Most importantly, I wanted answers and I wanted to know what the hell happened. I wanted to know all of this because… well, because I missed her. After all the shitty things she'd done, and the games she plays, I still missed her, damnit. I had to be a masochist.

As I continued up the mountain my emotions grew stronger as my body felt weaker; I needed to rest soon. I was all over the place: one minute I was hurt, the next I was angry, then frustrated, then disappointed. The majority of the time, I seemed to fluctuate between anger and disappointment. I could convince everyone, including myself that I was upset over the way it all went down and that we both lashed out at each other. I didn't want people, even if it was just our family and friends to know she had hurt me so much. Call it pride but I just couldn't let them see that. The bottom line was that I was upset we were over and disappointed Bella didn't trust me enough to just believe what I told her. She went on speculation and her own assumptions instead of trusting the fact that I would _never_ do anything to hurt her. Why was that so hard for her to see? I was upset that I didn't mean enough to her to try to work whatever it was out; she just ran away.

I made it into the clearing on that thought and instantly dropped my bag, getting rid of any extra weight I was carrying – at least shedding _that_ unwanted baggage. I crouched down and sat next to my backpack. I took off my sweatshirt, positioning it on top of the backpack, and turning it into a pillow. I lied down; there was no harm in relaxing for a couple of minutes. It was only one, there was plenty of time to find something that would work for the project. I took off my headphones and just listened to the sounds around me: birds chirping, the movement of the stream into the lake and the rustling of the leaves and grass from the wind. I was in a freaking live sleep machine with all of these noises and within seconds I had drifted off to sleep.

Minutes, or possibly hours later, my eyes popped open as I heard something approach. I wasn't sure how I knew, maybe I hadn't been that soundly asleep and could still sense things around me. I was awoken by rustling in the grass that led up to the clearing – it wasn't an actual noise, just movement. I had forgotten that animals, including the occasional bear, sometimes wandered around here. The rustling got closer and I froze, just in case it was said bear.

"Fucking wilderness," I heard a muffled voice say.

So it was a person – that I could handle.

"God damn bugs," the approaching voice said. As it got closer I realized that maybe it would have been better if it had been a bear – my problems would have all been over then.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Bella asked, literally tripped over me but quickly regaining her footing.

"Probably the exact same thing you are, working on the Bio project," I told her.

Seeing Bella's ridiculously girly and bright pink water bottle made my mind go to the only person who would have possibly given it to her and had concocted this plan: damn Alice and her scheming. I should have known something was up when she was talking about Prom - she had a backup for her backups and I knew this. My exhaustion was throwing me off my game.

Bella immediately reached for her phone and started texting. There was no reception up here, though, which was her small hiccup.

"Good luck with that," I told her sarcastically, "there's spotty reception at best."

She ignored what I said, wandering away from me, holding up her phone in the air, and searching for a pocket of signal. I got my phone out as well just in case I was able to get anything - I wanted to give that cousin of mine _my_ thoughts on her little stunt. I knew she wasn't acting alone in this but she was definitely the head conspirator. My phone had absolutely no signal – it wasn't even searching, it was just an SOS logo where the reception bars were supposed to be. What I did have, though, was a text from Alice which I must have gotten earlier but didn't feel go off.

_Work it out._

Well, I had to give her points for creativity; this was some plan that she concocted. I bet she even showed me the pictures before our practice to work me because she knew I would push myself in practice and wear myself out so I wouldn't see this coming. It's possible that she hadn't planned all of that to happen but, then again, I wouldn't put that past her either - she _was_ an evil mastermind.

"Ugh!" Bella yelled from afar. "Screw you AT&T! Screw you!"

I quietly laughed at this: yes, it was all AT&T's fault that she didn't get service in the middle of the _woods_ on a freakin _mountain_. I sat up and noticed that I couldn't see Bella anymore. She was somewhere up the trail, going up the stream towards higher ground looking for an open spot. It probably wasn't a good idea to just let her wander off by herself but I didn't want to deal with her. But, I also didn't want her to get lost in the woods; it was really a tossup over what to do. I pondered this dilemma; I figured that as long as I could hear her yelling at the phone she was in good shape and hadn't veered off the trail too much.

I grabbed a vial from my bag and walked over to the lake to look for a specimen for the project; at least this trek wouldn't be a total bust if I could find something to turn in. Besides, I had to kill time until Bella cooled down from her fucking temper tantrum. I roamed about the edge of the lake for a while before coming across some weird colored algae that could work. As I placed the specimen back in the backpack and gathered my crap I realized that I hadn't heard from Bella this whole time.

"Bella?" I called out.

Yea, like she would answer me even if she was within ear shot… Fuck, I was going to have to go after her. I grabbed a bottle of water and my phone, just in case, and headed in the direction she went. There was no reason to bring our bags with us; she couldn't have gotten that far.

"Bella?" I tried again. Nothing though.

A normal person, after trying a couple times, would just leave her stubborn ass in the middle of the woods to teach her a lesson. That'd, sure as hell, be what Jake _and_ Alec would do. And since she clearly preferred those two and their antics maybe I should have just left her there to her own devices. But no, I'm a good person. No correct that, a stupid person - one that still cared about her even after all this. Why? Why did that have to be the case?

I heard her voice from up ahead, she had gotten pretty far up the hiking trail.

"Come on you stupid fucker," she cried at the phone, almost in desperation. It sounded like she really didn't want to be here, possibly more than I did.

"Bella come back. You're going to get lost if you keep going higher," I called out.

She inhaled sharply; she wasn't expecting me to there. I had taken her by surprise. "I'm fine," she said steadying her voice by taking in long breaths. "Don't worry about it," she stated going into the woods now, the opposite direction of the hiking trail.

"I'm not just going to leave you in the middle of the woods," I told her annoyed and taking off after her. I wasn't sure I could handle one of her outbursts right now but I at least had to try.

She didn't respond; she just kept walking. Why she just didn't turn around and head back to her car and leave, I'd never know. She had probably made up her mind to find reception and, now, was going to be damned if she didn't find it. And there was no way she was going to heed my advice and turn around, god forbid someone other than her was right about the lack of reception up here. Her stubbornness was rearing its ugly head; it was really infuriating.

"Well, I'm not leaving, so if you want to keep wandering the woods, aimlessly, and getting us both lost then that's all on _you_," I spat at her. This comment had hit a nerve as her posture stiffened and she paused for a moment, absorbing the blow.

I had no idea where she was leading us or where we even were. The more she walked the further we got from the babbling of the stream and the hiking trail. Luckily, it was still early in the day, a little after 2 and there would be plenty of light. As we walked, I started making our path with rocks and other things from my pocket I found along the way.

And so we walked, for a _very_ long time, in utter silence. If she wanted to be stubborn and keep going, not saying a word in the process, _fine_. I wasn't going to be the one to speak first; if she wanted to talk I was all for it but I wouldn't initiate a thing. This was how _everything_ was with her; she always expected _me_ to make a move. But not this time - this time was different.

She stopped abruptly. "We have to go back," she said in an abrupt manner and turning around.

I sighed loudly. "Alright, I've only been saying that for the last hour or so…" I responded back.

"No, Esme's having the baby," she further explained, a ghost of a smile playing across her lips. "Somehow I got a text when I wasn't looking - even though I didn't have reception," and then muttered something to herself.

"What?" I asked, shocked, stopping as she walked past me. Esme wasn't due for a couple more weeks.

"It's babytime; come on," she yelled.

I wasn't sure how to respond so I just followed her lead, walking back in the general direction we had come from. I started looking for the markers I had left but they weren't there anymore.

Uh oh.

It wasn't like I had Hanzel and Gretled this, leaving breadcrumbs that could be eaten by the animals; I had left pens and rocks… but that could have been easily buried, blown away, or covered by dirt. At least the first one leading back to the other markers might have which still would have left us screwed. That, or Bella had lead us in a completely different direction altogether.

I moved in front of her to inspect the path, trying to see if I recognized anything or could see any of my markers, but there was nothing. I took the lead now, trying to get back to a point where I recognized anything. We walked some more in silence; nothing familiar came up. So she had got us _lost_, in the middle of _nowhere_, while Esme was about to have the baby. Was this really happening to me?

I felt resentment and anger bubbling up. This was all _her_ fault - her and her stupid fucking stubbornness. She had gotten us into this, totally disregarding what anyone else wanted - she just needed to get her way. This was all about her; it was _always_ all about her. Never mind the fact that _I_ had been duped into this situation too, no, I didn't matter in this equation. It was equally shitty for both of us; I didn't want to be around her either but she didn't see _me_ getting her lost in the woods.

"Selfish," I muttered.

"What?" she answered in a tone I wasn't expecting, one of remorse yet slight optimism.

I didn't want to hear that, though; I was at my breaking point and this had finally tipped the scales. I needed to get things off my chest and I needed to get them off now.

"I said selfish," I annunciate, stopping to face her.

She looked slightly taken aback by this. "Do you think I did this deliberately," she asked me, half coping an attitude and half hurt.

"Well, somehow things just have a way of working out like this when you're around… somehow I always seemed to get screwed," I trailed off as she began talking over me.

Any remorse or hurt feelings that had initially been there were now gone and Bitch Bella was all in effect. "I never asked you to follow me - you did that all on your own accord. I would have been fine on my own, I don't need you to come and save the day - though I know how you're _so_ fond of doing that. And if you had never come and tracked me down, _neither_ of us would be lost right now because we would still be along the path and could be on our way to the damn hospital!" she spat, getting more heated with each passing phrase.

"You think I would just wander off into the woods like you did? What if you got hurt or lost - though that would _never_ happen…" I threw back at her sarcastically. "It's not a matter of saving the day, I could give a shit about that, it's about being a decent human being. Regardless of what's going on with us, I'm not about to just let you get killed in the woods if I can help it."

"Like I said before I never _asked _for your help," she bellowed, infuriated, and walked ahead.

"And like _I_ said: selfish. You're doing all of this just to make a stupid point. You could care less about how anyone else feels or is impacted by your actions. What happened if you _did_ get lost; did you think about how people might feel about that? Nope, cause that doesn't factor into your damn head - it's only ever about what _you_ want. But I suppose I shouldn't expect any else from you; this is your typical M.O.," I yelled right back, walking ahead of her now.

She ran right in front of me, stopping me mid stride. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" she asked, fully enraged now. She was beginning to turn her usual pink since she was taking very small breaths.

I thought about how I wanted to respond. At the moment I had the upper hand and if I just went off on her right now about everything, I could potentially lose that. It would have been cathartic to just let it all go but I wanted to drag it out. For just _once_ I wanted to have the upper hand over her.

"If you can't figure it out then just don't worry your pretty little head over it," I told her, patronizingly, side stepping around her and continuing to walk. I took a couple strides forward and then waited for her to catch up with me – after all this, I still wasn't about to leave her ass in the forest.

She stayed behind me stewing; I didn't turn around but I knew. I heard her short breaths coming more rapidly and the shifting of her body weight from the crinkling of the dried leaves on the ground. Soon I started hearing her exhaling loudly, probably in an attempt to try to calm down.

I began to take another step forward, trying to signal her that we actually had to leave, when the ground started to give out from under my feet. There had been wet spots on the ground from the rain and I happened to step in one since I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Soon, I was falling down a fairly steep hill. I hadn't been that close to the edge but the ground must have been damp enough that my added body weight put enough pressure on the ground to finally make it give way.

It was a good minute before I stopped moving and was able to get my bearings again. At this point I was on the ground, covered in dirt, rocks and other flora and fauna. I seemed to be okay aside from my leg being stuck on something. I looked up to see Bella standing near the gaping opening, which was probably a good 15 feet away.

"Are you okay?" she called out, still mad but concern was laced in there as well.

"I'm fine; my leg's just stuck," I yelled back, taking in my surroundings. A fall like that should have scared away any of the animals but you never knew. My eyes scanned over the forest once I concluded that everything was fine and then finally fell to my leg, which I couldn't even see. A fallen log had stopped my fall and the rest of the debris from the fall was covering my leg. It felt like it was alright but I honestly couldn't tell.

I glanced back up at Bella who was deliberating either the best way to get down to me or whether it was even necessary to come and help. I checked to see if I could get my foot out on my own but that was a no go, especially being on an incline.

Bella had already started her descent down the side of the hill, quite nimbly in fact, by the time I had looked up from inspecting my ensnarement. The girl who had issues walking straight without falling was already halfway down the hill in no time, without any dirt on her either… huh. She was by my side within a few minutes.

"_What?_" she growled back in anger, all concern had vanished from her voice entirely.

"Nothing," I answered back quietly. I was not about to admit that I was quite impressed with what she had just done. I wouldn't have been able to get down here so quickly without falling in the mud but she had scaled the hill expertly.

She then inspected the debris that was trapping my leg. "Can you move it at all?" she asked, more calmly this time.

I tried again but nothing different happened. "Nope, something feels like it's blocking my leg. It doesn't feel broken or anything, though, so once the blockage is removed I should be fine," I explained.

She nodded and looked over the area again. She then started removing some of the smaller rocks and easily movable items before getting to work on the bigger and heavier debris. I watched her work quickly and efficiently but this wasn't where my leg was stuck – she needed to move the log. I opened my mouth, several times, but then closed it, she needed to come to this conclusion on her own or I would never hear the end of it.

"Why are you staring at me? What exactly am I doing wrong now," she asked, glowering at me.

I must not have been subtle enough. This was why I was trying to keep my mouth shut. I did not want to start, or continue, the argument we were having before… at least not until my leg was free and the ability for her to just leave me stranded here was no longer a factor.

"It's just that the log needs to be moved and then I'll be able to get out," I explained calmly, very cautious of how the words were leaving my mouth.

"How do you know – you can't even see your leg with all the stuff that it's buried under. Moving the log isn't going to do anything. You think there's nothing wrong but you don't know – something else could be wrong and _yanking_ your leg out from under there probably isn't the best idea," she reasoned, still upset but calming down ever so slightly.

"Well, it _is_ my leg – I think I can feel what's going on down there," I replied back, unable to control the acidity of that statement.

"Well, since _I'm_ the one doing the work, maybe we should go with my suggestion. Besides, there are plenty of cases where the person didn't feel that they were injured even though they were," she spat back, in the same tone I gave her.

I didn't have time to reason with her here – I was starting to get a little claustrophobic being trapped here. I needed to get out. "Bella, just move the damn log," I snapped at her impatiently.

She evaluated what I said to her and then started to work on the log but she was not happy about it. She would be unable to move this thing on her own but she had cleared some of the debris around it. Once she did all she could, she left for minute or two and returned with a large stick.

"Where is your leg exactly?" she asked, taping on different areas with the log.

"It's right on the edge," I answered, sitting up and pointing to the right spot.

"Okay, good to know," she said as she crammed the stick she found under the log making it into a type of lever. "So when I push down, if this works right, the log should go up a little and you should be able to pull your leg out. But if you can't, don't push yourself because we have no idea what's going on in there. Which is why I should have just worked on the rocks and gotten you out that way…" she threw in at the end.

"It'll be fine; just do it," I said, growing more impatient.

I had no idea this was how I reacted to closed spaces; I'd never gotten claustrophobic before. I didn't think this was a full blown attack, I wasn't exactly panicking – I just wanted my foot out, _now_.

Bella made sure she had enough leverage and then pushed down on the stick – but nothing happened. She re-adjusted the stick a little further under the log. She pushed down again. This time the log faltered a little but as she continued pressing down until the stick broke.

Fuck – _now_ I started to panic. I felt my heartbeat begin to quicken.

"I'll be right back; I'll go find another stick," she said, trudging back to the forest.

I was never going to make it to the hospital for the birth; not that I wanted to be in the room while it was happening, god no, but I wanted to be there for moral support. I lay back on the forest floor – there was nothing else I could really do and I was still exhausted from practice and the hike it took to get up here. The adrenaline of the fall and the fight had faded and now I was just tired again. I drifted off for a little but woke up when I heard Bella coming back. I opened my eyes and saw that she was carrying a very large stick; it was actually more of a mini log or a tree branch. It was too big for her to carry so she dragged it.

As soon as she was close enough to the log, she threw down the stick and got back to work. She had to make a bigger area under the log to work with so that she could fit the stick. She used the broken stick as a shovel and quickly cleared the area she needed. All this was done in utter silence, aside from some loud exhales and grunts – I almost drifted off to sleep again.

If she came from a different angle she would have been able to get the stick underneath the log a lot faster; unfortunately, I was only able to see this from the angle I was in. I debated whether or not to say something, going back _many_ times on this, but decided that it probably wouldn't be a great idea to give her my input. Most likely, that would have just pissed her off and I did not want to do that while she was holding a big stick.

Finally she had dug a deep enough hole and was able to lodge the tree branch far enough underneath the log. "Are you ready? I can always go back to moving the rocks around…" she stated.

"Just hoist the log up – I'll take care of the rest," I replied back. I was ready to have my leg back.

She pushed down on the log but she didn't have enough weight with just her arms. So the next time she grabbed a heavy rock, held it in her lap and then sat down on the branch. This didn't raise the log very high but it moved it enough that if she did it again, when I was ready, I could yank my leg free.

"Try grabbing that one," I said pointing to a bigger rock, "and then try it again."

She dropped the rock she was carrying and picked up the one I suggested instead. "You ready to try again," she asked, a little winded and moving slower than before.

I nodded and she sat down with the rock again. This time she was able to lift the log a little higher. I felt the constriction around my leg alleviate and I yanked my leg out but not without consequence. I winced as my leg caught on something and I felt it twist; at least it was out though. Bella got up immediately, thinking that she had done something to cause this.

I tried to compose myself before Bella saw what had actually happened. It hurt, nothing dire, but this was only going to make getting back to the car that much harder.

"What happened?" she asked as we both glanced down at my leg.

"I think it caught on a rock or something as I tried to get my leg out before the log dropped again. I think it twisted," I said looking at my ankle getting inflamed. It wasn't totally swollen but it was tender and I knew as soon as I stood up and put weight on it, it would hurt.

Bella looked at me with an I-told-you-so look. "I know, I should have listened to you," I told her.

"I'm not saying a word," she said stoically. "Let's just go – we need to get to the hospital. Can you walk?"

I nodded as I got to my feet. My ankle was definitely sprained but I could take it – I had gone through worse.

"When I was looking for a lever for the log I found a path that should take us up to where we were initially, but it's a bit of a walk. We'll go there and then see if you can go uphill at all," she directed.

We began the trek towards the path she mentioned. As we walked, I felt guilt sink in with every silent step we took. I started to feel bad for everything that I had said about her earlier. She didn't have to help me. Well, she didn't have to help as much as she did, but she did and I hadn't even said thank you. I didn't seem appreciative either. As selfish as she was, I wasn't exactly showing exemplary behavior either.

"Bella…" I began.

"Don't," she said, cutting me off.

I stopped and turned, waiting for her to catch up. She had been walking a couple feet behind me to make sure that I wasn't about to step on anything; up close everything was the same color and too hard to distinguish between rocks, dips in the ground or other things that could cause my ankle to get worse. That's when I noticed that one side of her jeans was wetter than the other – and it was discolored. She was also moving slower than she should have been but kept moving forward. I noticed that her jeans weren't just wet from the mud but they were stained with blood.

"No Bella stop – your leg," I told her, pointing at her right side.

She glanced down, stopping for a moment, but then continuing to walk. "Yea? Nothing's wrong – let's just keep going," she said moving past me now.

"You need to stop – let me look at your leg," I said, a little more authoritatively.

"My leg is fine," she said, picking up her pace. "It's scratched; let's just keep going."

I walked in front of her as my ankle screamed out in pain. "Can you just stop for a second?" I asked, trying to reason with her.

She continued walking. "Nope, we've got to go," she responded.

I quickened my pace again and walked in front of her again. "Just stop. I want to make sure you're alright," I said, placing my hand on her arm.

This time I saw her face and she was holding back tears which she was trying to keep in. I wasn't sure how long she had been holding her tears back because I hadn't really looked at her since I fell. She broke free of my hold and started moving again. This time it was a lot easier to catch up to her since her surge in movement before now slowed her down due to her leg. I was in front of her again.

"Why? Why can't you just wait for a minute – I'm just trying to help," I exclaimed, reaching out for her arm again.

And this was _her_ breaking point. "You want to know _why_? Because it just hurts too much and we don't have time for that," she cried, yanking her arm away as a few stray tears falling down her face.

At this point I knew she wasn't just talking about her cut.

"Because sometimes, it hurts so much that if I just stopped to think about what has happened, for just a second, I would just fall apart - _all_ of this would just fall apart. And when you fell, I… The fact that you almost got seriously hurt…hurt because of me - that doesn't help matters. If you got hurt... I don't know what I'd do if something had really happened to you. I don't have time to think about that. So I don't have a choice to stop, because if I do, falling apart will be my only option," she said, slowly slinking down onto a tree stump near where she was standing.

I let everything she said sink in. She was finally opening up and letting me know what she's been thinking, after all this time. I needed to tread lightly. She was in a very delicate state right now and if I did something wrong I knew I would lose her forever.

"Okay, so can I just see your leg and make sure that your okay," I said, approaching her very slowly, like I would an animal I was scared would just take up and leave.

I waited for her to give me the okay before I came closer. I felt a little guilty for having it come to this point, knowing that I had been the one to keep pushing, but I wanted answers – I needed to know what was going on in her head.

She nodded and I moved next to her, sitting on a different stump. I reached down to pick up her injured leg and place it on my lap. She recoiled slightly when I did this; I wasn't sure if it was due to pain or because of our close proximity. I hesitated, allowing her to become comfortable with the situation. Again, when she seemed comfortable, I rolled up her pant leg and inspected the injured area. This was no scratch which I had been able to tell by just looking at blood-soaked pant leg. Her calf had a medium sized cut that looked to be fairly deep; it didn't look too bad, a clean cut, but she was going to need stitches.

"Do you know when this happened?" I asked her.

She shook her head and now not even attempting to gain composure. "When I was getting the bigger stick - it was lodged in some rocks and I had to climb into it. I grabbed the stick but my leg got must have gotten cut. I was just in a hurry to get back to where you were - I didn't even realize I had cut my leg until I was already back and working on getting you out," she explained in a soft voice, not even looking at me.

Now, I felt even more guilty; not only did I push her to finally breakdown but I had also done _this_ to her. Getting answers wasn't worth her getting hurt.

"I'm sorry about this - I'm the reason you got hurt," I apologized to her.

This was the first time she had really looked at me since we had gotten lost; it was a look of bewilderment. "Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault that I got hurt," she said, now looking at her hands which she was playing with. "This is all my fault. I'm the one who got us lost, which caused you to fall - this was all my doing. I was in a rush to get back to you; I wasn't paying attention."

"Hey," I said, extending my hand to hers to get her to stop fidgeting, "this _wasn't_ your fault," I told her softly. "Neither of us could control what happened here. We'll both be alright, once we get to the hospital and get ourselves checked out. But for now I'm going to need your shirt," I told her a hint of a smile playing across my lips. I knew this would take her by surprise and distract her. She was starting to get even more down on herself and even after all she had put me through, I didn't want to do that to her.

"What?" she asked, totally taken off guard.

"You're wearing like five shirts - I need one of them to wrap around your leg as a bandage. And I'm going to need that bottle of water too," I explained.

"Alright," she said, ripping off her top most layer and handing it to me.

I rinsed the wound with the water bottle and then wrapped the cut as tight as she could bear to limit the bleeding. She made no noises throughout: no winces or gasps which concerned me that maybe she had cut a nerve or something. The more I observed her though, the more it seemed like she wasn't even really there.

"Bella?" I asked her.

But again, there was no response. Her eyes were glazed over. Maybe she was in shock?

I touched her shoulder which seemed to finally get her attention because she pulled away. "Do you think you can get up?" I asked.

"Give me a minute," she answered, blankly.

And so we sat, in silence with her leg resting upon mine staring out into the wilderness. At this point my ankle was throbbing so I went with this brief respite. Even though we were both injured, there was something nice about the two of us just sitting here. She didn't seem any more uncomfortable; this was my possible opportunity to get her to open up. She was almost there - maybe I just needed to give her that additional little push.

"You know, you aren't the only one who feels like they're about to fall apart all the time. Do you think I like keeping up the appearance of being alright? It was _killing_ me seeing you with Alec in Mexico," I confessed. "I could barely contain myself; I couldn't understand why you were doing this to me…well to us."

She looked up at me, trying to read my expression but there really wasn't one to read.

"And then I realized you were trying to punish me. I racked my brain, for weeks, trying to figure out what I had done but I came up with nothing. I was so hurt and angry, I tried to get myself to move on; all the girls in Mexico - they were just for show - to get you jealous. Which, I must say, did work. You should have seen your face when I had that girl up on my shoulders, pure hatred was seeping out of every pore. I knew it because that was the exact same look I knew I was giving Alec. It fooled everyone, everyone except me. I knew this wasn't going to help me get over you because there was no getting over you. I considered different options and each time it lead me back here. The happiest I've ever been was when I was with you; even now, sitting on a log, lost with a sprained ankle with you all pissed off, I'm perfectly content. I know we have things to work out but I want to work them out," I said, moving my hand over to her chin and tilting it up so that she was looking at me now. "So if you fall apart that's fine because I've fallen apart too – we'll both be here to help put each other back together," I confessed sincerely.

She looked at me, again trying to read my expression. Her brown eyes started welling up again. "Everything with Alec was one big mistake… it was a sham, just so you know: he's revolting. Once I realized that this was all just a game to him, a competition between the two of you, I tried distancing myself; that's why my demeanor changed from the pool to dinner that day in Mexico," she explained earnestly. "I just had to keep it up because I knew he's what would get to you the most. It was stupid I know."

"You don't have to explain," I told her.

"I know I don't have to but you did, so it figured it's only fair," she reasoned.

I was finally making progress. She was responding the way I had wanted her all along.

"But," she started to say, more teary eyed than before.

"I really don't care about the buts - whatever it is we can work through it. I promise you that," I told her, resolutely.

"You slept with Victoria," she finally lashed out, casting her eyes down.

That was something I was not expecting. I could see how she might have thought that had happened with girls after we had broken up, especially after everything she saw in Mexico, but _Victoria_? "What?" I asked her, completely taken aback.

"Don't try to pretend like nothing happened – just admit it," she told me, now looking up and searching my face for answers.

"I'm not pretending about anything; _nothing_ has ever happened between me and Victoria," I explained.

"Stop, I know what I saw," she pleaded with me.

"Well then tell me what exactly you saw so that we're both on the same page. There's nothing that I, or Rosalie or Alice, saw that night that would lead any of us to this conclusion," I asked. If there was some sort of rumor going around that I had slept with Victoria I wanted to get to the bottom of it, especially if this lie was the whole reason Bella and I were not together.

She looked down, biting her bottom lip. She was starting to close up again; she thought that I was lying. I reached over and held her hand, "Please Bella, what exactly happened that night. What happened when you came upstairs."

She didn't pull her hand away, which was a good sign. She didn't say anything else either, though, for a long time. We just sat there, in some more silence, with my hand atop hers as my thumb gently caresses her hand.

I studied her face for a while; she it looked like she was having an internal struggle on whether or not to say anything. She finally let out a sigh and began speaking. "I came up the elevator and made my way to your room. _She_ opened the door, hair and makeup a mess, holding a bottle of champagne, and wearing nothing but your buttoned down shirt. The room was disheveled: drinks on the counter, the bed a mess and clothes thrown about the room. When I inquired where you were she said you were going to go get ice and that you'd be back in a minute – after that I left, I had seen enough and didn't need to be explicitly told what had happened. Then you stopped me while I was trying to get away. I was going to at least give you the benefit of the doubt to come clean about the what happened but then you lied about drinking; I figured if you were going to lie about something so trivial, of course you'd lie about sleeping with someone else," she coldly said, looking up at me.

That calculating bitch! She had figured out Bella and I had been together and tried to pull us apart. "And you thought that I'd do something like that?" I asked her, hurt but genuinely curious.

"I didn't think so but with them I started to think about the stuff at Jake's house… I really didn't know. That whole thing made more sense now. After seeing Victoria, I put the whole thing together: that it was just a game between the two of you, which is why when I found out Alec's motivations in Mexico I withdrew from him as well," she continued.

I felt my brows furrow, trying to process this. "Wait, wh_at_ stuff at Jacob's house?" I questioned her; unsure about what the hell she was now talking about.

She was intently looking at me, trying to figure out my angle here – or if there was an angle. "That night when you showed up at Jakes while I was there: the night I broke up with him and things got a little out of hand… when he grabbed me," she said.

"_He did what_?" I roared, anger and concern coming through in my voice. "_Did he hurt you_?"

She looked puzzled; I could tell this wasn't the reaction she was expecting. "What do you mean? You were there – you saw the whole thing," she exclaimed.

I shook my head while clenching my jaw. "No I didn't. _Believe me_, if I did, Jake would have been in the hospital that night if he hurt you. There's no way that if I saw Jake do _anything_ to you that I would have just let him get away with it," I said through gritted teeth.

She was processing this. I could tell she was starting to believe me; that I really had no idea what had happened that night. Now, I wanted answers even more – I _needed_ to know what he had done.

"So you're telling me you just walked into the room at the very end? You didn't catch _any_ of the fight?" she asked me.

"I heard more than I saw. I had been warned by Lucinda that the two of you were arguing and I didn't want to intrude. As I came up the stairs I heard the two of you arguing. When I actually got to the door I saw you two kissing and then you told him to stay away. Before that, I have no idea what happened in that room," I told her quickly, wanting to get through my bit to hear more of what happened. I was fuming but I needed to try to stay calm for Bella's sake.

She looked like she was about to start crying again. "Really?" she squeaked, still holding back the tears which caused her voice to crack.

I nodded my head. "What happened?" I asked again, much gentler than before, trying not to push.

She inhaled loudly, taking a couple deep breaths. "When I told him it was over, that it was really over, he didn't take it well; he did not want to hear that. He always thought that we would be together, regardless of what he did – and that just wasn't the case. Jacob always had to be in control and he hated the fact that he couldn't control me. I started to leave his room, since there was no reason to stick around, but he grabbed a hold of my arm, pulling me to him, and wouldn't let me go. The more I tried to pull away the tighter his grip got. Jacob had always been kind of rough but it had never been with me," she said, as she started rubbing her wrists in remembrance. "It took all of my strength to get him away from me. I mean, this had never happened before but I was starting to get scared of what else he might do. I never thought that he would hit me but at the same time he had never acted this way before. Finally, I got him away but then he somehow got close again and kissed me; that's when I slapped him. I saw you in the door and figured you had seen the whole thing but had said nothing," she explained.

My blood was boiling; I wanted Jake to be in pain right now after treating her that way. I knew he had a temper but I never thought that he would have ever taken it out on Bella; in his own demented way he seemed to care about her. But I'm sure that was the excuse of everyone who knocked around their girlfriend or wife – that they only beat them because they loved them so much… I was seething the more I thought about it.

Bella couldn't stop talking now. "So when this whole Victoria thing happened, I put two and two together. That everything with me had just been a game between the two of you – especially since the two of you are so competitive with each other: who could get Bella to fall in love with them. Something that the two of you could laugh over later and that I meant nothing to you, since you didn't think twice about sleeping with that red headed whore," she said very quickly and tried to continue but I cut _her_ off this time.

"Wait, what did you say?" I asked, my anger quelled by the possibility of what Bella had just said.

"That this had all been a game between the two of you," she repeated.

I tried to keep my smile hidden because if I heard her correctly, which I thought I did, she said she was in love, with _me_. "Yes, but what _was_ this supposed game?" I asked again.

"You know what I said," she said flatly and avoiding eye contact.

"Okay, so what is the answer then?" I questioned her, anxious for her answer.

"What do you think? Do you think that I would have cared if I didn't? Do you think that Victoria would have mattered if I didn't care about you?" she asked me.

"I know you care about me; that doesn't answer the question if you love me though," I told her, earnestly.

"The only person I've ever loved has been you," she admitted almost in a whisper, "but it doesn't matter."

Now, I couldn't help my smile – there was no way I was going to conceal it and I didn't want to. "Of course it matters," I told her. "First off, absolutely nothing happened with Victoria that night – or any night for that matter. That night, we left the dinner early because she said she wasn't feeling well – apparently she was lying. She had, supposedly, left her purse up in my room because she had come up there before we left. I had been late coming down to dinner and she had come up, hence the reason she was in my room in the first place. So we came up there but she claimed she had gotten lost finding the room initially and may have dropped her purse then. Because she wasn't feeling well I told her to stay in the room and I would go looking for it. I was getting her some ice, so that explains the reason I was carrying the ice bucket. Apparently, while I was getting the ice she messed with the room, staging it to make it seem like we had…hooked up for your benefit. She was trying to mess with your head because she figured out about us," I explained, trying to get her to see. "Bella, I would _never_ do that to you, even when we were broken up and in Mexico the most I ever did with any of those girls was kiss them. I was never even alone in the room with Victoria when we came back upstairs; I just let her into the room and I went looking for her damn purse."

She was trying to put the puzzle pieces together to see if they made sense. I continued the story as she worked through this information. "She ordered me drinks during dinner and I absentmindedly drank them, apparently I'm a compulsive drinker," I explained. "Second, there has _never_ been any sort of competition between Jake and me about you – I've never mentioned you and me to Jake once, even before we got together. Jake and I aren't even that close - it's always been complicated between the two of us. We've always been lumped together so a bond of some sort formed that way but I've never really cared for him; I've always thought he was a dick. Then when you came into the picture I tried to stay even further away from him. He saw that though and tried to bait me, multiple times, into seeing who you would go for but I've never taken him up on this offer. I wanted something to naturally progress, without Jake being a factor; luckily, for the most part, it did," I told her with a genuine smile.

I let her absorb all of this. "So this has all been a misunderstanding? This has all been my fault," she snorted in disgust, upset with herself over this. "I'm the one who came to these conclusions. I'm the one who's been acting all crazy about this and pushing you away. I'm the one who's been acting like a total bitch…"

"You're not the only one – I did plenty to make the situation worse. I really didn't help matters. But now we're on the same page and we can move on from here. As long as you want to move on, that is," I told her, placing her leg down, getting up and extending my arm out to her.

She extended her arm from me to help her up. "Are you sure you want to deal with all of this? I mean, I haven't exactly made this easy for you. I'll understand if…" she began saying, looking down again.

"You know, you're not the only one who's in love with someone here," I said, cutting her off and finally answering the question which I knew she had been thinking about since she had inadvertently blabbed her feelings earlier. "It's been hell being away from you these five months - I'm over it, all I want is to be with you. I think we can handle anything that might be thrown in our way after all this."

Finally, the smile of the old Bella, _my_ Bella emerged once again. Granted, it was a small smile but it was one of promise. I tilted my head down and did the one thing I had wanted to do since the moment we broke up: kiss her. It wasn't a rushed kiss; it was one that took its time getting reacclimated with each other again. Starting gentle as we pulled each other closer and then feeling a sense of urgency, wanting to make up for all the lost time, as one hand made its familiar way to her hair and the other pressed into her back.

Bella pulled away first, panting a little. "We can, and _will_, do more of this later," she said with a very large grin beaming from her face, "but it would probably be prudent to try to find our way back to get to the hospital. You're about to have a little sister and I wouldn't want you to miss that. Besides, I think we both need to get checkout out too."

"I agree but it's going to be a boy, just fyi," I told her.

"We'll see," she said with a wink as we started to walk away.

She paused for a moment causing me to stop with her. "One more thing: no more secrets," she stated, resolutely. "Going forward, we tell each other everything, whether we want to tell them or not - no holds bar. And we tell everyone we're together," she stated firmly. "And just so you know, Victoria's done; bitch is going down."

I was all for that, secrets and miscommunication had split us up once already. "Agreed," I told her and started walking again. After a few steps forward again I stopped this time though. "One more thing, I love you Ms. Bella Swan. I don't think I officially said it yet," I told her, giving her a chaste kiss on the lips.

She smiled widely yet again. "I love you too Mr. Edward Cullen," she replied back.

We made our way arm in arm up the hill, leaning on each other for assistance, and making our way back to the trail. We both knew we had a long way to go to being back where we started but as long we were on the same page and were open with each other we would be able to fix the damage.

**i really hope you guys liked the chapter and didn't mind me changing it all that much from mexico to forks. as always i would love to know what you thought on the chapter, the dresses, the playlist, the everything…lol. you all know I love hearing from you :) **

**the dresses are also posted on the homepage, so check um out. in the words of rachael zoe, I DIE, literally for these dresses. i wish i had them all**

**in case you were wondering, this is not the end of the story - there is more to come…**


	36. Plotting & Scheming

**again sorry for the delay, i've been out of town and dealing with migraines so please excuse my lateness! i hope everyone had a great holiday season and a happy new year!**

**to everyone who commented/review/pmed, thank you soooo much you all are incredible and thank you to everyone who's been following the story; thanks for going on this adventure with me. **

**a big thank you to ms pennylane, as always you've been crazy and dealing with me, lol.**

**all outfits are on my profile and there are also a couple songs that go along with this chapter as well**

**i'll stop yammering on now...**

BPOV

"Riley's so tiny; when can we actually start doing things with her? When does she start getting fun?" Emmett said looking down at the month and a half old baby. She stared back at him with a quizzical expression of her own. She looked like she was trying to figure him out – it was actually pretty funny. "Right now all she does is eat, sleep and shi…poop," he continued, correcting himself before he finished his last word.

"We could say the same about you –minus the tiny part. Were you ever even that small?" Jasper quipped with an arched brow protectively over his little sister.

Out of everyone he was the one who was most baby focused: he would make sure her diaper was dry, that she had a bottle, or if she needed to be burped. He loved being around his little sister and jumped at any opportunity to just be around her – it was really quite odd behavior for an 18 year old male. Maybe it was the mama's boy in him, wanting to help out Esme, or maybe he just really liked babies; I couldn't figure it out. The only people around Riley more than Jazz, though, were Esme and possibly my mom who had basically been living at the Cullens'. Mom had caught baby fever and wanted to get her fill before she had to leave for press tour for her new film.

Edward made a face at Riley, getting her to smile. Jasper had been trying to do that for the last ten minutes but, unlike Edward, had been unsuccessful causing him to frown. It really irked him that the baby had instantly bonded with Edward even though it was Jasper who always cared for Riley and was around her. Edward was only around Riley for the easy stuff; he basically ran away anytime someone mentioned the word diaper or burp. But any other time Edward picked her up or paid any attention, Riley reacted… just like any other female who was around Edward. Whether it was that she was fussy and crying or just trying to get her to laugh, Riley _always _responded to him. It was kind of sweet watching the two of them, even though Edward had no idea what the hell he was doing: he was not a baby person instinctually.

"Emmett, you're doing it wrong; you're going to drop her. You're holding her like a football," Alice reprimanded him, reaching for the baby.

Em pulled Riley away, shooting her a 'bitch please' look. "Well, then there should be no problem since I've never dropped a football before," he commented, slightly insulted that she thought he had ever dropped a football.

And the usual bickering over Riley commenced: _everyone_ wanted to hold her and _everyone_ thought it was their god given right to do so. This always started small with one or two people squabbling which would quickly erupt into a full-fledged argument until someone had enough sense to intervene. I waited a couple minutes to see if anyone else realized what was about to happen before I jumped in. Since no one stepped up, I took that as my cue.

"Alright, enough," I scolded them, quieting everyone down. "Playtime with Riley is over. I'm taking her back to Esme," I said, scooping her up from Emmett and extracting her from the group of bickering teenagers. It was only a matter of time before Riley picked up on all the arguing and noise and weighed in with her own, much louder and shriller, vocal contributions.

If you would have told me last month that all of us would be yelling at each other over holding a baby I would have said you were off your fucking rocker but, apparently, I was wrong.

"Let's get you away from the crazies," I told her which made her giggle. It was the first time she'd ever done that while I was talking to her. I grinned in amazement that Riley actually seemed to understand and like me. Before, I hadn't really thought of her as anything other than a baby but now I seemed to realize that she's just a _very_ small little person with her very own personality.

Edward shot me an appreciative glance and a warm smile as I took Riley out of the room. I replied back with an air kiss. What a difference a month made. This time last month I was miserable, moping around, basically a supreme bitch to anyone and everyone and now I couldn't be happier. I couldn't deny how happy he made me; what being in love could do. Ugg…I had to stop before I made myself nauseous with my sappiness.

"You're just the happiest baby, now aren't you?" I cooed, bringing my face closer to hers so that our noses were almost touching. She giggled and blew spit bubbles back at me, making me laugh even more. I liked how we were already communicating with each other.

"Delivery," I announced, loudly, walking into the family room and walking over to Carlisle.

He put his finger up to his lips, signaling me to be quiet, as he took Riley. Esme had fallen asleep on the sofa and he wanted to let her rest. She barely slept anymore with the baby; even though Riley had a nanny, Esme barely let her do anything – she was _very_ hands on.

"Oops, sorry," I whispered sheepishly since I hadn't noticed her there originally.

"There's no need to apologize, you didn't know she was sleeping," Carlisle reassured me, bouncing Riley gently. Her little green-grey eyes groggily started to droop immediately. I was pretty sure she would, eventually, have the same color eyes as Edward but with Rosalie, Jasper and Carlisle's bright blonde hair. She was a total combination of her siblings and she was going to be absolutely stunning when she got older.

Carlisle had almost the same effect on Riley as Edward did, though, their connection made a little more sense since he was her father…

"Did Riley wear you guys out already; you guys only had her for half an hour. Weaklings…" he teased with a laugh, displaying his dimples.

Man, was he good looking. If only he was 20 years younger, unmarried, and without kids… I bit my lip, silently reprimanded myself over thinking this – I was dating his son for Christ's sake _and_ he was like my second dad. But that didn't mean I couldn't appreciate his total hotness… No, no, no; this thought was so _beyond_ inappropriate. Edward, Edward, Edward, I made myself think. At least Edward inherited his genes; something to look forward to as we got older.

"Quite the opposite – everyone wanted to play with her and your big kids almost had a temper tantrum over who got to do it. I figured I should take her out of the room before things really got out of hand," I explained.

He gave me an appreciative nod, knowing full well the types of tantrums we could pull out. "In that case, thank you very much," he chuckled again. "Are you guys ready for tonight?" he asked.

"We will be as soon as Mike and James get here. They needed to make a brief stop at Neimans, I believe James mentioned something about more shoe options. Apparently between Rose, Alice and I we still don't have enough stilettos options," I explained.

"That is _not_ possible," Carlisle responded in all seriousness.

"That's what I told him but there's really no point in arguing with James; he's worse than Alice when he sets his mind to something," I stated.

"Oh boy," Carlisle replied, still bouncing an almost fast asleep Riley.

Prom was tonight and the boys had flown up for the week, since they had finished with midterms, to help get us ready – well, that, and to assist in the Victoria take down. Everything was all planned out and ready to be implemented; we just needed to go over everything one more time before we left. Things needed to go off without a hitch. Everyone had a role and I needed to make sure we were all on the same page. I wanted things to go as smoothly as possible.

"Are you getting ready here?" he inquired, putting Riley down in her crib. It was like Carlisle had some sort of magical baby power the way he had gotten Riley to go to sleep so fast. She was wide awake five minutes ago.

I laughed, "Shouldn't you know that?"

He shrugged. "I just live here; they don't tell me anything," he replied, picking up the baby monitor and turning it on.

"As far as I know we're getting ready here… unless James has decided we don't have enough hairspray or something and carts us off to a salon," I joked.

"Alright, I won't keep you any longer so you can get back to getting pampered and glamed up," Carlisle said as we made our way out to the hallway, me going back up to Edward's room to rejoin the group and he off to his study down the hall.

"Oh Bella," he called out, as if he had forgotten something, and turned around before heading into his office, "I'm glad you and Edward worked everything out. You both are in much better spirits these days, which I'm very happy to see," he said with a warm smile. "He'd _kill_ me if he knew I was telling you this but he was really starting to lose it; he wasn't acting like himself at all. Actually he was acting like a sullen, pain in the ass, who didn't want to do much of anything – so maybe it wasn't that much of a stretch. Your break really hit him hard; he wasn't even playing anymore. I'd never seen him like this, not even when Elizabeth died but he was so young when that happened…" he trailed off and looked down at the baby monitor but not before I saw his eyes begin to dampen.

He was silent after that. Carlisle seldom spoke of his Edward's mother, which I had always thought was out of respect for Esme. I had never really given it much thought that it was because it was too emotionally difficult for him.

"Carlisle are you alright?" I asked, gently touching his shoulder. I was curious about Elizabeth. Edward _never_ spoke of her, aside from that his car was his mother's; it was a topic of conversation that almost seemed off-limits. I hoped that Carlisle would open up and elaborate on her but I didn't want to press and seem too intrusive.

His eyes focused back on me and he seemed to come back to conversation. "Yes, yes; I'm fine – I just hadn't said her name out loud in quite a while," he sighed looking away from the monitor now, the tears glossing over his eyes like he had composed himself a little more.

"What was she like?" I asked, unable to keep the question back. "He never talks about her and rarely ever even mentions her name."

"It's been hard for Edward – I don't think he remembers her as well as he thinks he should which bothers him. He was just eight when she passed and before that we were in the hospital a lot with her, so I don't think he has a lot of clear memories of how Elizabeth was before she was sick. I think he feels guilty about that and for that reason never brings her up," he commented.

"But _no one's_ memories are that great when they are that young; most people can't remember every single detail from their childhood. Most just remember the big things and the general details," I added.

"Exactly, but he thinks he should be the exception, especially about his mother. And that's where I believe the guilt stems from. In time he'll come to this realization. But back to your initial question, Elizabeth," he paused, choosing his words carefully, "was exquisite," he concluded with a saddened smile.

I felt my own eyes begin to dampen as he talked about her; his emotion seemed to wash over me and I sympathized with him. He didn't need to say much I could tell how much he meant to her.

"She was magnetic: everyone loved her even though she never sought the attention, much like you Bella. She was beautiful, smart and very quick witted; she had a _great_ laugh – it was infectious. She wanted the best for others and pushed them to be that. She went out of her way to help everyone; she was very generous and altruistic. The two of you had a lot of similarities; I always wondered if Edward had picked up on that when you two first met. She was also as stubborn as an ox – a trait Edward naturally inherited from her. This made the cancer even worse because she was determined to not let it get the best of her. She never wanted anyone, especially Edward, to see her weakened. In fact when anyone was around, excluding myself, she was her old charismatic self, which expended a lot of her energy; she was the nurses' delight on the floor. She fought the cancer with _everything_ she had, every step of the way, but in the end it wasn't enough. She hung around a lot longer than she was supposed to, though, because of her stubborn streak… at least that's what I choose to believe. She was one of a kind and I was lucky to spend as much time with her as I did. It saddens me that Edward was cheated of his mother," he stated glumly.

"He had you and you're a _great_ dad," I told him, in an attempt to cheer him up a bit. And I wasn't lying; Carlisle really was a fantastic dad. "And Esme's phenomenal; he loves her as much as Elizabeth."

"I know. And you are _entirely_ correct, Esme is really phenomenal; I don't know what I would do without her," he said a little more upbeat. "_Anyway_," he said, changing the topic of conversation and giving me a weak smile, "I just wanted to say you've been a good influence on him and he cares a lot about you– I hope you know that. He's been a hell of a lot more pleasant to be around."

I smiled back at him, knowing I wasn't going to hear any more about Elizabeth. I was glad that he had shared so much with me; that he had opened up about Edward's mom. I was, also, genuinely pleased that Carlisle thought I was a good influence on Edward because I questioned that all the time; he was different around me and I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not. "Well I care a lot about him too, in case that wasn't apparent. And the parentals have said the exact same thing about him – they _adore_ him; like a crazy amount, it's kind of sickening," I told Carlisle with a chuckle. "I think we're good for each other."

"Well, both Esme and I think you're fantastic as well," he said, giving me a hug. "Now, I've really kept you long enough; they'll be wondering what the hell the old man is doing and why he's talking your ear off. I'll let you get ready and thank you for listening. It was _really_ nice chatting with you," he said, retreating into his study for some much needed time alone. I knew our talk had raised some emotions he hadn't thought about for a while.

"It was really my pleasure – thank you for opening up," I replied back, making my way through the house, back to Edward's room. I could hear them loudly discussing something as I made my way up the stairs.

"There you are! I've got James and Mike on the phone so we can figure out logistics for tonight - they're running late," Alice announced. I sensed her annoyance with the fact that they were not abiding by her schedule. Alice had planned today down to the minute and the two of them being late was throwing off everything: she had even printed out a schedule for each of us. God forbid we had to cut short our allotted bathroom/water breaks.

"We're not running late – _he_ is. I'm being held captive by an insane, shoe-crazed, gay man," Mike stated, rather dramatically, into the phone.

"If the man needs shoes, let him be," Rose ordered, staring down Alice who looked like she was about to say something about how this was inconveniencing her.

"Here, here! Thanks Rosie," James called out. "And _you_ didn't think I was so shoe-crazed when I got you those limited edition Varatos loafers, now were you – jack ass," he sniped at Mike.

"_Anyway_… back to the task at," Alice yelled, her voice drowning out everyone else who was talking. "Bella, you have the floor," she said handing over the phone to me as I made my way between her and Edward.

"When exactly are you guys going to be here – we can just do this when you get here," I suggested.

"Well looking at the _schedule_," she said, punctuating the word schedule to drive her point home and holding up the itinerary for the day in front of my face, "we're already five minutes behind since we had to wait for you to come upstairs and for Mike and James to get here so, no, we can't just _wait_ for them to get here."

"How dare you ask such a ridiculous question," Edward whispered in my ear, "our itinerary is set in stone."

I elbowed him in the side, trying to conceal a laugh; jokes would not be tolerated by the Gestapo over there. The _schedule_ was not a laughing matter…

"Damn straight it is," Alice answered him, totally straight faced.

"She hears everything," he muttered, relaxing into the couch and pulling me back with him.

"So let's dive into this then," I said, shooting Alice a glance to make sure this is alright with her. I didn't need her getting on my case anymore about "not following the schedule," when I had enough going on. And I was starting to get anxious. I wasn't nervous about my plan, I just wanted to get things going and for it to go smoothly. Alice nodded her head in approval so I continued on. "Has everyone's part, thus far, gone according to plan?" I inquired, looking around the circle at my friends who were nodding their heads.

"What's going on?" James asked, unable to see what was going on.

"You would know if you were here…" Alice mumbled under her breath.

I hit the side of her leg to get her to shut up. If she was going to make snarky comments towards everyone that would just drag things out even more. Besides, I wanted everyone to get along tonight; I didn't need a mutiny on my hands later on.

"Why don't we go around and double check that everything a go," Edward suggested, interlacing his fingers with mine when he had, had enough of me taping my finger nervously against his leg. I relaxed a little with this small gesture and leaned a little more into him.

"Sounds good; I'll go first," Rosalie declared, plucking the phone from my hand. "So I managed to get some pictures of Victoria at a party from some of the JV girls. Don't worry, none of this can be traced back to us, the girls submitted it for initiation…" she explained.

Alice shot her a death stare. "She meant… er, an end of the year wrap up slideshow for the girls, with some, uh, comedic pictures…" Alice said, attempting to cover up Rosalie's slip up.

"Alice, chill. I know you're a stickler for the 'rules' but we're about to kick someone out of school; I doubt anyone here's really going to mind if we haze the freshman," Rose snapped back at her.

Jasper snorted at his sister's response, warranting him a very angry glare by his girlfriend. His face was expressionless after that.

Rose ignored Jasper and Alice's interaction and continued. "I only had to doctor the pictures slightly; you know, blur out the other people's faces and enhance hers, though, I don't think anyone could mistake that hair of hers… The pictures were pretty incriminating on their own: one had her doing body shots and coke off some sophomore I think, the other was giving some guy a lapdance, and a couple where she was about to kiss another girl from the squad. Her uber conservative parents are going to lose their shit when they see their darling, little angel in these," she explained.

"One, how are the parents going to get and see these pictures? And, two, how do you know they're conservative?" Mike asked.

"They've donated a very large amount of money to the Republican Party here in Washington and they're avid church goers: never missed a service, are pretty Jesusy, and like to keep a certain public perception. They're also _big_ contributors to the MoveRight movement; they might've been one of the founders though they're trying to keep that under wraps for business purposes since they have to work with a lot of Dems," Emmett interjected. Everyone looked at him with puzzled expressions on their faces. "Don't look so shocked; I have my ways – I'm not as stupid as you all think I am," he grinned.

"And I'm going to go over to their house and personally deliver the pictures. You know how I enjoy having sit downs with parents: basically playing the role of the concerned upperclassman worried about their child's wellbeing. That is kinda what I'm known for and parents eat it right up," Alice chimed in.

"Yeah, we figured Alice would be more believable and convincing in this scenario, especially being ASB president as well," Rose interjected.

"Yea, her being ASB president is the reason Alice is doing it over you…" Jasper quipped, adding his own two cents.

Rosalie and Jasper stared each other down for a tense moment before they busted up laughing and she handed him the phone. Twins, I'll never get them… maybe it's just these twins.

"J, your update," I suggested.

"My role is already taken care of and has been for a couple weeks now," he announced with a cocky grin. "Tyler's bringing her as his date to Prom. It actually wasn't that difficult to arrange. I think he's had a thing for her ever since New Years but hasn't done anything about it. I just had to give him some words of encouragement, a little nudge if you will, and everything was set into motion," he told us, handing the phone over to Alice.

He seemed bored by this whole thing: Jazz wasn't much of a plotter or someone who worked behind the scenes. The boy liked to get his hands dirty and this was a bit too underhanded for his tastes. Maybe he just wanted a task that was a little more high profile, like Alice, or more involved like Emmett's. If that was the case, he shouldn't have been upset because his role was just as important as anyone else's. Everyone served a purpose in making sure Victoria wouldn't find out about this ahead of time. But more importantly, so nothing could be traced back to them. It was one thing if I took the sole responsibility for this if there was some sort of fallout but I didn't want the rest of them to get dragged into this. This was my battle, not theirs.

"So my role hasn't happened yet – just in case you haven't figured that out," Alice piped in. "Once the initial talk happens tonight, my role comes in next. As Rose mentioned, I'll be the one speaking with Victoria's parents. But, I'm also on the school's academic's ethics council with Aro, Caius and a couple other teachers which will prove very helpful. Once the cheating scandal hits and the hearing begins – I'll have an inside look on what's going on and can spin that to our advantage. In addition to talking to her parents about the pictures, which were 'brought to my attention', I'll be speaking with them about Victoria's academic integrity and how the drugs and partying have all lead to her downward spiral, blah, blah, blah... But my role isn't until phase two, which might not happen, though that is highly unlikely. I don't see Victoria going out quietly, which is perfectly fine with me; I'm always up for a good fight," she concluded with a mischievous grin spreading across her face. Unlike Jasper, she lived for these underhanded schemes.

"Can we finish up phase one before we leap into phase two – to limit any confusion," Mike offered. "Sorry munchkin."

My eyes flickered towards Edward to see his reaction. The corners of his mouth curled up; he liked how his nickname for Alice was catching on. I snuggled into his side more and tilted my head up to give him kiss on cheek, making his smile more pronounce.

"Totally understandable, wanting to go in order from beginning to end; I can appreciate that logic," she replied. "I'll hand it over to Em then," tossing the phone to Emmett.

He relaxed into his chair and put his feet up on the coffee table; it looked like he was settling in for a while. "So I took care of switching out a term paper Victoria wrote in English on _Wuthering Heights_ for one that's been circulating on the web for a while. I had to drop something to Tanya, who is the aide for Victoria's class, since her mom is helping my mom with the AMFAR fundraiser. So I just happened to visit Tanya while she was aiding. When she was out of the room, I switched the two papers. All sorts of red flags will go off when they start grading it. I hid the real paper in some folder in that cluster fuck of an office Mr. Hernandez has, just in case Victoria brings in her actual paper to refute it – they can just say it was misplaced in the dozens of folders he has in there. Just like Jazz, my part's finished and in Tanya's possession since the paper was due last Monday…" Emmett began.

"I thought there were two separate cheating allegations?" James butted in, interrupting Emmett's train of thought.

"I'm _gettin'_ to it," Em responded with a slight irritation in his voice. He wasn't a fan of being cut off, especially since Rosalie did it so frequently and there wasn't much he could do about it with her. Well, nothing he could do if he wanted to stay in her good graces.

"As I was saying, the plagiarized paper was only in her English class. There's also a sting set up in her geometry class but Edward handled that one and can give you the details. Only the paper was my responsibility so it didn't seem suspicious or easily traced back to the same person," Emmett concluded and threw the phone over to Edward.

"Everything's a go in this department as well. Jane's just waiting for me to say the word - she's the aide in that class. She's already scheduled for one of the other students to come in and take the fall," Edward explained.

"How can you be so sure Jane can be trusted?" Mike asked.

"Because she's got as much to lose if it comes out that she was helping to set Victoria up: Jane's getting paid for test answers. I simply happened to find out about her little business venture and suggested it was in her best interest to help us out," he said with a smirk. "Jane's going to take Victoria's test and tell the student making up the exam that her answers are the answers from the teacher. Therefore, when Jane goes to grade the makeup exam, Victoria and the other student's answers will be exactly the same. They won't know who's telling the truth between the two students but with Victoria's prior cheating record, expulsion will be the only logical conclusion. No one involved will open their mouths about what happened: the student won't want to get into even more trouble for cheating and Jane wants to keep her business afloat. It's a win-win situation for us. And later on if we want to brush all of this under the table, if Victoria decides to leave on her own volition, Jane can just attribute this as a grading error: that she mixed up the tests and graded the same one twice. It works out perfectly," he concluded.

"Genius," James said with a smile, as he and Mike walked into the room, ending the phone call.

"All praise should really be directed at Bella: she masterminded this whole thing," he commented, kissing the side of my head.

"When the hell'd you get here?" Emmett asked, surprised they were now in the room.

That question went unanswered though. "Shocking lil sis…just shocking," Mike teased. "I'm impressed; you've really outdone yourself."

"Just see what a little motivation can do," I joked. "No, what this really means is that I've been hanging around Alice for too long…"

Alice lit up, taking my statement as a compliment. "You've done well my young Padawan," she replied, trying to imitate the guy who plays Obi Wan.

Jasper beamed for a brief second at her Star Wars reference: he had taught her that. He was really such a nerd sometimes. Alice quickly glanced sideways to see if he had picked up on her comment that was solely uttered for his benefit – cause neither Alice nor I could give a shit about Star Wars. A tight smile spread across his lips as he knocked his knee into hers, acknowledging that he got that reference was for him.

"Yes! After all my efforts you finally used a Star Wars quote!" Em exclaimed, taking full ownership for Alice's Star Wars knowledge. "It only took you 13 years but that's okay; it takes someone that long to understand its greatness."

"_How_ am I dating you?" Rosalie asked him in all seriousness, turning to look at him.

"Cause you love me and I'm great in the sack," Em replied with a wide smile, not missing a beat.

All of us busted up, unable to control ourselves. Alice, Jasper and I exchanged knowing looks, though. If Emmett wanted to think he was the reason for Alice's sudden Star Wars interest, that was totally fine; besides, no one wanted to burst his bubble. He was so cute when he got this excited.

"Okay, so back to tonight," Alice said, bringing the conversation back, in-between giggles. "We've got to start getting ready in like five minutes so can we please try to finish this up."

"So James, your role tonight is simple: get Victoria alone. Preferably in the back bathroom area that's been closed off so we're not disrupted," I explained.

"The philanthropic society wanted to contain all the _rowdy_ teenagers from destroying the estate, so they're keeping them in a designated area – we're not allowed to roam about the house which is lame. It was actually one of the main issues of conjecture for booking this location – we even have a clause in the contract about it," Alice mentioned.

"Is that my entire roll?" James asked, slightly dejected.

"It's larger than _some_…" Mike muttered, unhappy.

I sighed and tried not to roll my eyes; we'd had this conversation a thousand times already. At this point he was just beating a dead horse. "Mikey, I've _already_ told you: you're too recognizable. She knows you're my brother – she would get suspicious," I commented back, trying to suppress my annoyance.

"He was in the damn lip synching contest – how is _that_ not recognizable? He gets to do everything," he pouted, stalking off into the corner. James suddenly found his fingers totally engrossing so as to not make eye contact with Mike.

"You're integral to all of this – you know that. You're going to be with Alice when she goes and confronts Victoria's parents," I said, trying to cushion the blow. I knew he was feeling left out, being the only one not there tonight, but I couldn't risk it; he was a liability. "You're the one who's going to tell Victoria's parent's that she's basically obsessed with me and explain that to them."

He still sat there, arms crossed, sulking in the corner. I knew my brother, nothing was going to make him change his mind – if he thought he was getting the short end of the stick and that was that. He needed to have his moment where he could pout, mope, and be a whiney bitch.

"Sooo… are we through running down everything because we really need to start getting ready," Alice said, breaking up the awkward silence that had fallen over the group while Mike had thrown his tantrum. "I mean, you know what you've got to do Bells; there's no reason to go through that."

"Yea, I've got it covered; after James texts us – I go in there and deal with Victoria," I replied calmly; that was something I was very much looking forward to. "Any other questions?" I asked, looking around the group but they stayed quiet.

"Alright," James said brightly, "hit the showers; we've got work to do."

"What the hell are you and Jasper going to do tonight?" I whispered to Alice as I put on my diamond solitaires; this was the first time we'd been totally alone all day and had an opportunity to talk. "With all this Victoria stuff I kinda lost track of everything else. I should have been around more to help you figure out what you were going to do; sorry I've been so self-involved."

"God I know, you're just such a bitch," she teased and scrunched her face a little. "Though, I suppose I can forgive you; working on your first major takedown and all... I'm so proud; how quickly you grew up," she fake cried, wiping invisible tears off her cheek and sniffling.

"Thanks," I replied flatly but arching my eyebrows afterwards signaling her to continue with her Prom scheme.

"We're just going to walk in," she answered me, like it was no big deal and walked into the other room.

I stood there slightly baffled. "You're just going to walk in?" I uttered, following her into the other room.

She nodded back at me. "We're just going to let the cards fall where they will; I'm over the whole hiding thing. Besides, it was kind of assumed we were going to go together anyway since the rest of you were all coupled up. It was actually Rose's idea 'to keep the group intact'," she said, air quoting that last part with a stifled laugh.

I shot her another look of disbelief which she brushed off again. Apparently, being so absorbed in my own drama left me oblivious to everything else that was going on.

"What was my idea?" Rosalie asked sauntering into her room, almost ready except for her shoes.

"Seriously, you've got some crazy bat hearing when it comes to your name; you know that right? Weren't you like two rooms away?" I asked her; surprised she had heard that at all since we were speaking in hushed voices.

Rose just rolled her eyes and looked to Alice to see what we were talking about.

"About Jazz and I going together tonight," Alice stated.

"Oh yea – that was me," Rose replied, again, like it was no big thing. "So it would only be the six of us, since we're going to be dealing with Victoria. It was the logical conclusion."

The logical conclusion? Yeah right; this was in the self-serving interest of Rosalie and nothing more than that. This wasn't because we were dealing with Victoria. It was because she didn't want to be bothered with playing nice with anyone else tonight: feigning interest in others, making small talk and other common courtesies. She liked the group with just the six of us and that's how she intended to keep it. She could be her typical bitchy self, well bitchier than the general public has seen, and none of us would even bat an eyelash.

"Yea, great idea Rose," I commented, playing along because it did work to everyone's advantage. Jasper and Alice would be happy since they got to go together. Edward and I would be at east because this would make things run a lot smoother and we could be less secretive. And Em would be happy because he wouldn't have to hear Rosalie bitch all night about some random person "invading" our group, which is the term she always uses when we're in mixed company. She's a fickle one: she loves people doting on her but then doesn't really want to be bothered with them – go figure.

"Alright ladies, let you me give you another once over before calling in the gentlemen and putting on your glosses and or lipstains," James stated, bursting into the room, glam squad in tow, holding different types of hairspray in each hand. He motioned for Alice first.

He looked her over, appraising her overall look and then went back and slowly examined each, specific, area: makeup, hair, dress, shoes – in that order. "What did I say about her having a freshness with her makeup? She needs dewiness and a tad more blush, like an after sex glow – that kind of pink, got it? Do not make her look like a whore though; there's a _big_ distinction," he instructed the makeup artist. "The hair's perfect; just the right amount of sleek and messy: just makes sure it stays in place," he said, closing Alice's mouth with his hand and dousing her head in maximum hold hairspray with his left hand. "Dress is perfect; just get the Atwoods on her. Use a berry stain with a gloss overlay for her lips which you can do now. She doesn't have anyone she's going to be kissing anytime soon," James said, concluding his evaluation of Alice.

I tried to suppress the giggle that was rising in my throat – sucks to be them right now. I saw Alice's perfect Cupie Doll lips turn into a frown as the makeup artist carted her away; she was hoping to sneak away for a moment alone with Jasper but that wasn't happening now.

James moved onto Rose now. He stood there contemplating her look much longer than he had with Alice which worried Rosalie. She starred at him, trying to read his face to understand what was taking so long. She was not pleased and looked like she was getting worked up. "Just spit it out! What's wrong" she asked, concerned.

"The hair needs something," he answered biting his bottom lip in thought and peering out the window. "And more mascara," he barked at the makeup artist, turning towards her.

Boy was he getting bitchy…

He thought about it a little more and then lit up; he figured out what was needed. "The chignon needs to be a little messier in the front – more volume too. Also, let a couple strand down in the front and get a small flower from the yard to tuck into the back. Make sure it's a dusty rose or off white so that it goes with the dress," he snapped at an assistant and pointed towards the garden. "The dress also needs to be steamed at the bottom so that it flows properly. The lip is going to be nude with some shine but Emmett need to come in here first. I'm sure there's going to be kissing with those two; so get that over and done with and then shellac her," he instructed the makeup artist.

I was next as James shuffled Rose over to get her dress steamed. "Finally Bella," he exhaled, like he was now getting a chance to relax. That, or he was glad that his talents were almost done being utilized – it's probably been a stressful day for him. "You need a touch more bronze, a little more of a sun-kissed look. And you need more fullness to your hair – I want Victoria Secret waves meet Barbarella height and fullness – but I want it touchable, not stiff. I want to be able to run my hands through it; oh, and a touch more of that shine serum. Other than that, I want high shine on her lips: a little pink sparkle but all gloss and shiny," he said to the team and he pushed me over to get my finishing touches.

I stood there and let them do their thing; I didn't want to ruin anything and have to go through the process again.

"Edward! Emmett! Your services are needed," James yelled, poking his head out the door. "Bella and Rosie, you may go and have your moment – then back to finish up," he said, turning back towards us.

"You rang?" Emmett sang, strolling into Rose's room completely dressed. He looked fantastic in his Armani suit. It was a deep blue, almost black, with a blush boutonniere and diamond cufflinks to match the crystals on Rose's dress.

"I wanted to check you guys out and give you all a moment. Kiss, do your thing, but _do not_ ruin my work: got it? I'm serious, as soon as lipgloss goes on don't touch those lips – I know what you're thinking…" James warned wagging a finger at him.

Em threw his hands up. "I wasn't going to do anything," he said innocently.

"I never said you were going to," he said, turning his gaze towards Rosalie. "That goes for you too," he said glancing at the door.

I followed his gaze to the door and saw Edward leaning against the door frame with a relaxed smile, sipping a glass of scotch. He looked ah-ma-zing in his black on black Tom Ford Suit; the suit looked like it was made especially for him. His generally tousled bronze locks were slightly more coifed than usual but that wasn't going to last unless James had hairsprayed the crap out of that too – his hair never stayed in place because he just played with it too much. There was a deep green hue in his tie which brought out the green in his eyes and a white boutonniere to match my dress. He looked absolutely perfect. I was about ready to jump him right there. Forget all the time I had just gotten ready or the whole Victoria thing, Edward and I had to make up for lost time. I inadvertently licked my lips.

"I'll be right back, I'm going to go do a very quick change – _behave_," James instructed, looking squarely at me before heading out. Apparently, he hadn't missed my lip licking…

As soon as James left the room, Mike came in. "Do whatever but please remember I'm in the room; just don't do anything that's going to get me into trouble," Mike said, laying on Rose's couch engrossed in the latest issue of GQ.

Edward put down his glass on the armoire and grabbed my hand, pulling us into Rose's closet. He slammed the door behind us. I wasted absolutely no time, as soon as that door was shut and Mike couldn't see us, I crushed my lips into his unable to control myself. His arm instinctively wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer. The other went on my bare back which sent an electric charge through my body; thank the lord my dress was strapless. I let my hands drift up towards his neck but stopped before I reached his hair, tugging on his collar a bit. The kiss intensified as we nipped at each other's lips and as my tongue slipped into his mouth; my heartbeat picked up tenfold, I'm sure Edward could feel it race. As quickly as this kiss was getting out of hand, we were both very aware that it couldn't go much further. We knew what we could and couldn't do which made the kiss a little awkward. I couldn't run my hands through his hair the way I was so accustom to or actually pull him close, not wanting to ruin or wrinkle the suit and I could sense this same feeling growing within him too. We slowly started to end the kiss with one final peck as we pulled away. I took a breath as I rested my head onto his chest.

"Do we really have to go anywhere tonight?" he asked with that crooked smile of his.

"You should _really_ dress like this more often," I told him smiling. "I like it – a lot."

"Oh this old thing? I just found it in the back of my closet," he joked. "Now you… you look incredible," he said, spinning me away from his chest so that he could really see the dress in its entirety. "It's a little short," he commented and tried to pull it down, which then brought the front down and exposed more cleavage so he pulled it back up. It was one or the other which caused him to laugh.

My white and pink, strapless, chiffon Marchesa gown was teeny tiny and barely covered my ass, though, the bow in the back did help. It was supposed to have a long train but I had it shortened it so that only the enlarged bow was left; it just looked weird with the train. With the nude stilettos James paired it with, I looked especially tall, well tall for me; I was still a half a head shorter than Edward.

"We'll be best dressed for sure," I told him.

He nodded, holding my hand and pulling me closer to him again and kissing me. Man, how I loved the way he kissed me. He moved his hands to my waist as I straightened the lapel on his jacket and we looked at each other for a moment. "Are you ready for tonight?" he asked me in a far more serious manner than was necessary.

"Definitely," I answered him confidently. And I was; I wanted Victoria gone and I couldn't wait to get it done.

"Well, I've been thinking a little more; I've changed my mind, I want to be there when you talk to her – so it comes off as a solidified front," he said.

We had gone back and forth about this for days now: he wanted to be there but I didn't want him involved, end of story. The last time he had brought it up, he had been on board with letting me do this on my own but I had a creeping suspicion that he wasn't going to go along with that.

I moved away from him and sat on ottoman in the walk-in. "You're starting to sound like Mike… We've gone over this already – there is no reason for you to be involved. If something goes wrong I don't want you to get suspended or worse. She went after me, so I'm going after her. You don't have to get involved – I will be fine," I told him. He had been trying to play the overprotective boyfriend role and I really didn't need that.

"Why are you so worried about me? When have _I_ ever gotten in trouble with the administration?" he replied, with a snippiness to his voice.

"So are you then saying that you think I can't _handle_ Victoria? You think _I'm_ going to get into trouble?" I answered him defensively, crossing my arms and legs in a huff.

He took a moment to breathe as he declenched his jaw – he wasn't looking for an argument and was trying, very hard, to not make this into one. "No, not at all; I have no doubt that you can handle the situation. I just think it will be better if we're both there to confront her so she doesn't feel as ambushed; so it looks like we're both on the same page. Stop trying to protect me over this, I will be fine – we should be doing this together," he commented.

"Well, then stop trying to protect _me_," I snapped back at him. I took a deep breath before continuing – I didn't want to get in a fight with him either but I was adamant about my point. "I don't think you get that, that's how it's coming off to me. Maybe that's not your intention and that I'm misconstruing what you're saying but it seems like you just want to be there to make sure that things don't get out of hand. That if things go wrong, you want to be there to take the fall. I don't need you to do that; I don't _want_ you to do that. You don't have to be my knight in shining armor, in fact, I would prefer you weren't that person," I said, in a much softer voice trying to get him to understand where I was coming from.

He sat with that for a moment not saying anything; we both stubbornly sat there in silence. "I get what you're saying but think about it what _I'm_ saying. It makes sense: it looks like we're a unified, that we're on the same page," he reasoned. "From the get go you said we're in this together, so let's do this together. I'm just going along with what you proposed initially when we were in the meadow," he said with that damn crooked smile of his. He was trying to use that smile against me now, cause he knew that could wear me down.

He knew I couldn't argue with that since I was the one who had said that in the first place. And, as much as I didn't want to admit it, we were in this together. This whole thing with Victoria had affected him too, so it only made sense that he wanted to confront her as well. Regardless, I worried of what he would do if things didn't go according to plan – I didn't want him to intervene. This was my plan, my takedown; if there were going to be any repercussions to the chain of events that were about to take place I wanted to be the only person who took the fall.

"But…" I protested but Edward cut me off.

"But nothing, you know I'm right. I've let you do everything else without really saying a word, which is fine – I'm happy you did. All I'm asking is to just be there to see what is going on and see that it going smoothly. You want everything out in the open – well this is it. I'm not about to let something she says come between us, again," he said authoritatively. "Alright?" he asked with an inflection in his much softer voice, as if he wasn't sure what my response would be and extended his hand.

I considered just flat out saying no again but I knew that wasn't going to get us anywhere. There was no way I could argue with what he said, since he was using rational thought as his reasoning as to why he should be there. Damn him. I, begrudgingly, took his hand. I just hoped nothing unforeseen were in the stars for tonight.

"Fine, we're in this together," I replied flatly, as he helped me up.

"I _told_ you we should have taken pictures when we first got here," Alice lectured, fusing with her dress.

She was wearing a brown, white and yellow, strapless gown with a flamenco influenced skirt and very high slit up the front. It deviated from what Alice typically wore, which was usually very girly and on the shorter side to give her more height. It was nice to see her in something different for a change. Her dress fit perfectly with Jasper's suit: a slim fitting, single breasted, deep brown velvet cocktail jacket with a lavender collared shirt and pocket square, a deep drown velvet bow tie and black evening pants. The Cullen boys had a thing for Tom Ford tonight and totally made it work.

"Yeah, you've said that already," Rose stated, preening in her compact and basically ignoring Alice.

"We might miss King and Queen announcements if we're here much longer..." Alice continued just to mess with her.

"Don't even kid about that," Rose replied, snapping her mirror shut at her.

"Well it's your fault – you're the one who wanted to make the rounds before we took pictures. Trying to schmooze people for last minute votes," Alice stated, tapping her foot and growing more impatient.

"Just locking in the crown," she replied, flashing a dazzling smile to the rest of the line and smoothing out her dress.

Rosalie's dress was something new to her as well: a blush pink, asymmetrical, Swarovski adorned, long Grecian gown that neither prominently displayed her boobs, ass, legs or back – the only thing the dress displayed was her collarbone and shoulder. It was quite conservative for her, though; Rose somehow managed to make the dress look way sexier than it actually was. I swear she could still look smokin in a Birka.

She and Emmett didn't look like they fit together as nicely as Jasper and Alice but I doubted anyone tonight really would – aside from maybe Edward and I. They really pulled out all the stops tonight.

"Nice find," I commented, motioning towards Jasper's suit.

"I had nothing to do with it," Alice replied, not even looking at me but staring down the group who was currently taking their pictures.

If she made them feel uncomfortable enough maybe they would just leave? We were the next group up though; she just needed to fucking relax.

"You found this _on your_ _own_?" I asked, not even trying to cover up the amount of shock in my voice.

"What? I _do_ like fashion," Jasper replied with a laugh. "I'm quite the dapper dresser... when I actually give a shit," he said, glancing over at Alice, as a smile spread. He really was head over heels for that crazy pixie.

"Are you sure you're just not a gay man in disguise?"Em interjected.

I elbowed Emmett in the ribs; there was no reason to hate on Jazz. "Really J, this is quite impressive," I complimented Jasper and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm glad _some_ of you appreciate fashion. Unlike certain people, I don't need my girlfriend to hand pick what I wear," he quipped, staring down Emmett in the process.

Emmett opened his mouth to respond back, with some inappropriate girlfriendless retort not less, when Alice jumped in. "Our turn!" Alice squealed in glee.

"Alice, they're about to announce Queen; I can see Davidson up there. If you make me miss the announcement for a fucking picture, I will end you," Rose growled as Alice pushed her into position in front of the camera.

Rose continued to bitch as Alice arranged us. I went where Alice instructed me, ignoring the photographer altogether. She had moved the lights around, creating a softer lighting for the picture, which did not sit well with the photographer. We were in our couples, girls in the front, guys in the back: your standard Prom picture just with better lighting. Alice stepped back from her position, inspecting her work and consulting with the photographer – mostly just to humor him. She nodded to him and then rushed back to the picture.

"Rose, just shut up for a minute and smile," she snapped at her through a brilliant smile.

The picture was over in less than 30 seconds. 20 minutes of waiting for not even 30 seconds. What a waste of time. That picture better be phenomenal.

"Alright, now for the couple pictures," the photographer stated.

"No time," Rose said trying to make her way towards the stage.

"No, one more," Edward instructed with a twinkle in his eye, grabbing Rose's waist and stopping her in her tracks.

Alice and Rose looked like they were about to murder him. I didn't really care if we missed the King and Queen announcement but the other two were all about it.

"We're going to do a fun one – not one that's so god damn stuffy," Edward commanded, releasing Rosalie, swooping me up and cradling me in his arms.

Em laughed, picking Rose up and wrapping her around his shoulders. She tried to resist having a good time with it but she couldn't help herself – she eventually cracked a smile.

"Hey Tarzan, if you're going keep me hung over your shoulders like this, can Bella at least fix my dress?" Rose asked in-between laughs. Emmett brought her closer to me so I could take care of it. The way he had hoisted her up there made her dress hike all the way up her thigh turning it into a micro mini.

Alice and Jasper were the last to get into position. J got down on one knee and Alice sat on his lap. In a quick swoop he dipped her, very close to the ground, making her yelp, causing the rest of us to laugh. Rose was in the process of kissing the side of Emmett's mouth when then happened. It was the perfect photo opt.

"Now!" I instructed the photographer, mid laugh, while the others weren't ready and weren't paying attention. _This_ was a picture that was worth waiting 20 minutes in line for, the one to show the grandkids later on, not that stuffy first one. I sat up a bit and gave Edward a surprise kiss that he wasn't expecting at all.

"I wasn't even ready!" Rosalie protested once she realized the picture had been snapped.

She tried to get to the photographer to check out the digital preview. Alice grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the stage, though.

"Trust me, it'll turn out fantastic," I told her.

"Besides there's no time; they're presenting the Court now," Alice added on.

Emmett and Jasper followed closely behind. Edward put me down, pretending to adjust the back of my dress when in reality he was just trying to grab my ass. I playfully swatted his arm away but interlaced my arm with his as we made our way towards the other four in the crowd.

"Welcome everyone! I hope you all are…" Mr. Davidson spoke into the microphone.

"Just get to it already," Emmett commented, drowning out Davidson's voice entirely.

All of us looked at him, surprised. If anyone was going to be freaking out, we all thought it would be Rosalie. I glanced at her who looked relaxed as could be.

"Chill out, man," Jasper whispered to him. Em blew him off and began tapping his foot nervously.

Rose shushed us, losing her cool for just a moment, and motioned towards the podium to where Mr. Torrence was holding an envelope.

"Now the moment you've all been waiting for. Can we please have Alice Brandon, Edward Cullen, Rosalie Hale, Jasper Hale, Bella Swan, Emmett McCarty, Jessica Stanley and Erik Yorkie come to the stage? Please give them a warm round of applause," Mr. Torrence said, indifferently. Apparently his hatred for all student events included Prom…

The eight of us made our way to the stage in the pairings we were announced in. Emmett almost dragged me onto the stage the way he was prancing; the boy seriously needed to calm down.

Davidson took the mike from Mr. Torrence, unhappy with his lack of enthusiasm. "Congratulations to all of you," he said with a toothy, yet creepy, grin as we went across the stage. "As you all know, there can only be one winner… well in this case two," he said with a chuckle and looked to the rest of us to laugh along with him; though, nobody did.

He cleared his voice when he noticed no one else was laughing with him. "And your King from this year is…" he paused, tearing open the envelope, "Jasper Hale!"

"_What?_" Emmett shrieked, absolutely shocked.

An amused smirk spread across Jasper's face as he stepped towards Mr. Davidson to accept his crown.

"This is ridiculous! I could maybe understand you," he said looking at Edward, "but Jasper - _really_?" Emmett continued. "This can't be happening."

"You didn't," I whispered to Alice who was just smiling.

"_What?_ That's preposterous," Alice whispered back with a laugh.

"I guess the people have spoken," Jasper quipped with a shrug as he turned back and looked at Emmett.

Rose gave Em a sympathetic look of understanding and patted him on the shoulder in an attempt to comfort him but that was short lived as the Queen envelope was handed to Mr. Davidson. She gave him a final pat, which was more of a push towards Edward so that he could deal with the Emmett situation. Her focus was on the envelope now and that held her undivided attention.

"And this year's Queen is," he paused again, opening the envelope as Rose took a step forward, "Bella Swan."

_I won?_ I won! I was shocked – no, shocked wasn't a strong enough word, floored might be better. How did that happen? I didn't really know how to react. I've always been nominated but never won or cared about winning. But now that I had; it was awesome. People had chosen me. Me, over Alice, Jessica and Rose. Oh shit, Rose…

All of us, including Mr. Davidson and Mr. Torrence, turned to look at Rosalie who was standing as still as a statue. Alice pulled her back so no one in the crowd would notice that she thought she won. I quickly came in front of Rose to accept the crown and to block Rose from everyone's gaze.

"You okay?" I whispered to her. She nodded but remained silent. She looked like she was alright, just surprised. At least she wasn't having a total diva moment like her damn boyfriend.

I quickly turned back and faced Mr. Davidson as he put the crown on my head. I thanked him for the flowers and looked out into the audience of people who were clapping politely. I could really see everyone for up here and they were clapping, except for Victoria. She did not look pleased which made me smile even more.

I glance over at Alice to see if she had a part in this. She just shook her head, looking equally surprised. To the rest of the world I might have seemed like a logical choice for Prom Queen but here in Fork, I was just a normal girl; Rose was the star and this crown rightfully belonged to her. I smirked just a little, knowing that crown should have been hers but for some unexplainable reason was mine.

The others were ushered off the stage with their flowers and sashes in hand, allowing Jasper and I to have our moment. Em was still freaking out - I could hear him from the sidelines. Rose was trying to calm him down; she didn't want him to make a scene. It looked like she was okay with not winning or maybe in comparison to Emmett she looked calm and collected – he was really throwing a hissy fit.

"Now if you could make way to allow the King and Queen to have their customary dance," Mr. Torrence announce drably; really, he was just _so_ enthusiastic.

"Well come on _King_," I told Jazz with a giggle.

"After you, my Queen," he said joining me in the laugh and signaling for me to go first.

Neither of us looked like we believed what had just happened; we could barely contain our laughter especially when we looked up and noticed the crown on each other's head. Paramore's The Only Exception started blasting over the sound system and we started dancing. It was weird having everyone just stand there and watch us dance. I mean they did that in the lip syncing contest but this was just so noticeable – at least then the audience was blotted out by the spot lights.

"So were you in on this?" Jasper asked quietly.

"No, I had no idea about this. Didn't you know?" I replied.

He shook his head. "It's that best friend of _yours_ – she did this," he commented.

"You mean that girlfriend of _yours_," I chuckled back.

Almost as if on cue she gave the two of us a little wave like she heard everything we had just said. Knowing Alice, she most likely had; she probably had the damn tiara bugged. Then she disappeared into the crowd, something was up.

"Check out Em; he's about to have a meltdown – it's fantastic," he gloated.

"I'm just surprised that isn't Rose," I replied honestly. "She's not exactly what one would call a graceful loser."

He just shrugged. "I don't think she really cares all that much if she was Queen or not," he said glancing over to her. "No, correction, I don't think she minds losing this to you - especially after the year you've had. In fact, I think she wanted you to win, though, she would _never_ admit that."

I looked at him like he was crazy. "I _really_ doubt that," I told him.

"No really. I overheard her saying it to mom the other day but if you repeat that I'll deny every word," he stated.

The music faded out in the middle of the song as Alice came out of the DJ area and came over to Jasper and I. The song had been replaced by And Then You by Greg Laswell came on instead. "Thank you very much," she yelled back at him and the DJ gave her a wide smile and thumbs up.

"Excuse me B, I believe I'm needed elsewhere," he said with a wink and started to walk over towards Alice.

Oh something was up between the two of them and I had a feeling that song was the trigger. "By all means," I told him with a smirk, "good luck!"

She already caught up with him before he had taken three steps towards her. "I believe this is our cue Mr. Hale," she said with a smile as she ran into Jasper's arms as he spun her. "Nice look, by the way…"

Jasper kissed her, in front of everyone, cutting her off. She didn't even protest she simply went with it. He finally put her down and the two of them started dancing, kissing each other intermittently, like they were the only people in the room. They were utterly adorable together.

People immediately started whispering. Everyone was trying not to watch but they couldn't help themselves. This couldn't be any more of a public display of affection and I'm sure this is _exactly_ what they had planned. I should have known as soon as Laswell came on that this was their plan because he was one of Jasper's favorite artists.

"What's going on?" Edward whispered in my ear, wrapping his arm around my waist as I faced Jasper and Alice.

I turned so that I was facing him. "Well, I believe that they just announced that they are a couple to the whole senior class," I stated.

"A _couple_?" he asked, slightly shocked. "I thought…? Since when…? Did you…? How long…? When…?" he stammered, unable to finish a coherent thought as he stared at the two of them.

"It doesn't really matter," I said, brushing my lips against the side of his chin. "Would you rather…," I kissed him again as he turned his head towards me. "Discuss them…," kissing him again. "Or dance with me…," I said giving him one more lingering kiss.

"Um, I'll stick with this option," he said, returning my kiss as we danced.

"Ahem," Rosalie said clearing her voice and trying to, discreetly, get our attention. "Sorry to interrupt but your phone's been going off like crazy; James' texting you – he's ready."

Fuck, with all this going on Alice had taken my clutch away when I won so I wouldn't have to carry it around. Apparently, she had entrusted Rosalie to watch it when she went to the DJ booth. "You're a lifesaver Rose; we would have been screwed without you," I said hugging her.

She smiled and hugged me back but then I felt her body go rigid. "What. Is. That," she asked, punctuating every word. I knew that was when she saw Alice and Jasper together – I was a little scared at what her reaction would be. Fortunately for me, I wasn't sticking around to see it.

"Ahh… gotta go," I told her, keeping her in a vise like grip as I kept her in a hug and started backing away from the dance floor. I wasn't about to let her make a scene about this in front of everyone – if she was about to flip out, which she was, it should be done in private.

But her adrenaline was kicked into overdrive and she easily broke away. Edward came to the rescue. "See, you _do_ need me when things get out of hand," he said, sticking his tongue out at me. "Come on Rose," Edward said grabbing her arm and ushering her from the dance floor. "Em…" he called out.

"I saw – I'm on it," he said meeting us half way and steering her out the door and into the courtyard. "Wait, did you know about this," he whispered to me.

"This isn't really the time Em," I muttered back to him, "got some other things to take care of right now."

"Got it," he said almost out the door with Rosalie, who was still fighting him every step of the way; at some point he finally picked her up and just carried her. "We're talkin' later toots," he yelled at me.

"Emmett – put me down!" Rose growled at him but by that point they were already out the door and a safe distance away from her brother and Alice.

"Well he's got that right, 'we're talkin' later toots," Edward commented, mimicking Emmett.

I rolled my eyes and briskly walked towards the back bathroom. "Fine but we've got more pressing matters at the moment."

James was staring at his phone as we came down the hallway towards the bathroom. He finally noticed us coming when we were a couple feet away. His eyes lit up when he saw the crown. "YOU WON?" he said loudly.

"Shhhhhhh!" I shushed him.

"You won!" he said much quieter but still cheering. "This is incredible! Wait, pose; I've gotta send a picture to Mike," he said taking out his phone and snapping an unsuspecting picture of me. "Well that would explain why she came down the hallway in a huff five minutes ago. Victoria is not a happy camper right now… She looked all frazzled so I suggested that she freshen up inside. My part is over and done with, I can finally relax. I'll stand on watch out here. Have fun in there," he said, pushing the bathroom door open for us.

Edward and I walked into the hallway of the bathroom. I paused for just a moment causing him to stop. "Just give me a minute alone with her before you come in. Okay?" I asked him.

He looked at me skeptically but eventually nodded. I didn't even hesitate to gather my bearings; I proceeded into the bathroom excited and ready for whatever.

**sorry to do that to you guys and have a cliffie but it was just too long; it would literaly be the neverending chapter. what did you all think? per the usual i would love to hear from you. le tme know what you think! the next chapter will be the victoria take down; i hope you guys will think it's appropriate. **

**can't wait to hear from ya :)**


	37. Monster

**so this is a little chapter to just say thank you all for reading and staying with the story. thank you for everyone who's ever read the story, commented, reviewed, pmed, any/all of the above. it's meaned the world to me. it's my 2 year anniversary chapter - its been a wonderful journey. i hope you guys like it! i'm diligently at work on the next chapter which hopefully should be out in the next couple weeks or so. but, hopefully, this will tide you over until then! **

**pennylane - you were the motivating force/inspiration of this chapter so i've really got to say a big thank you to you as well! thanks for being there :)**

**oh, and kanye west - also a motivating force for this chappie... check out the song on my profile page**

**enough with my ramblings...**

I was literally in hell. I didn't want to be around these people but here I was anyway. These weren't really _my_ friends; I was here simply to keep tabs on people, to observe and report – great Prom night for me. Was I ever asked, "Hey, you want a night off?" Nope, never but my feelings are never taken into consideration. I was here to make sure things ran smoothly for everyone.

I glanced around the room observing my, unsuspecting, classmates. They were laughing and relishing in the moment, snapping pictures, saying trite remarks like "I'll never forget this night" - trying to absorb all the good parts of high school and forget the bad ones. They all _seemed_to be having the time of their lives but nothing's ever how it looks. Behind those false statements and fake smiles are how they really felt about each other and the hidden secrets they hoped no one ever found out about.

"You wanna get in line to take pictures now?" my date asked, as I took a sip from my glass of Jack and Coke. Thank god Tanya's date had smuggled in a flask.

My phone buzzed in my coat pocket. I reached for my Blackberry.

_Find her – reiterate the importance of her silence. Don't let on to anything about tonight_

Well that text was to the point but weren't they all? Was it too much to throw in a "Hi, how ya doing?" I was covering up so much and keeping everything, did I not even warrant a pleasant greeting? What else should I really expect – that was always our relationship; it wasn't about to change now. I scoped the room out again, this time searching for a particular person.

Was there such little faith in my vigilance? I always took care of what was needed but apparently some assurance needed to be guaranteed. I replied immediately to the text.

_As always, I'm on it_

"I'll be right back, gotta do something then we can take pictures," I told my date, not waiting for a response before walking away.

It didn't take too long to get to her; she was sitting at a fairly empty table by herself, playing with her phone. "I see you got a text too," I commented, as I approached, taking the empty seat next to her.

She glowered at me as I moved closer to her. I wasn't a fan of getting closer to her either but in order to keep our voices down it was an unwelcome necessity. "I think it's a bad idea to be seen this close to each other," she commented, with utter distain.

The feeling was mutual; I hated having to interact her. She was annoying, pretentious, acted superior- for no reason whatsoever- was a little crazy and did I mention annoying?

"Victoria, this isn't exactly my idea. I wouldn't be over here if there wasn't a reason," I explained to her with total contempt. "What does your text say, by the way?"

"It says none of your fucking business," she snapped.

I suppose I stepped into that one; I wouldn't have ever told her what my text had said either. I considered trying to reason with her but decided that would have simply taken too long. Instead, I snatched the phone out of her hand; she hadn't been anticipating that move and wasn't prepared. I scanned through her phone until I got to the text I was looking for.

_Keep the plan in mind_

"And are you?" I asked with raised eyebrows, relaxing into the chair.

"Why wouldn't I?" she responded back, flippantly.

She was wearing on my last nerve; I reached for my glass again. Drinking was the only thing at the moment that would make this situation bearable. "I don't know," I answered her with a shrug. "I'm not exactly sure how your mind works and I know how you like to go off script…" I snorted.

"Well, I saw the opportunity before so I took it," she answered, narrowing her eyes at me. She had that whole death stare thing down perfectly.

"Yea and you almost cost us the whole operation. Do you even _think_ before you do these things?" I asked, challenging her with my best stare down. I wasn't about to back down from Victoria; the crazy red head did not scare me.

Her demeanor completely changed as some cheerleaders walked by and smiled sweetly at me; talk about being bipolar... "I always think of my actions. People might not like what I do or think I've gone over the line but it drives a point home. And unlike _certain_ people, I'm _nobody's_ lackey… I do what I want, when I want – I think that I've made that point abundantly clear," she replied with force behind her words, taking her phone back and taking my glass.

I almost growled at her brazen attitude; she felt that she could just do whatever she wanted without repercussions. She disregarded orders and was all about self preservation, then again, so were some other people… I was the only idiot that towed the line and did what was asked of me.

"Are you trying to imply that _I'm_ the lackey?" I asked.

She looked at me innocently and looked like I had hurt her feelings. "I would never imply that…" she paused and, almost, drained my drink, "but if the shoe fits," she continued, as a cruel smile spread across her lips.

I snatched the glass back. "I'd be careful what you say; you won't always have the protection you do now around," I threatened.

"Aw, that's cute. You think you have some say over me or that you can take me," she said pinching my cheek. "Hun, I'd eat you alive."

I recoiled at her touch. "Look…" I began but was cut off as Mr. Davidson began talking and took the stage.

It was time from Prom Court announcements and Victoria's attention was totally diverted to that. I grabbed her shoulder and turned her around to face me. "I'm just here to deliver a message…" I began but this time was cut off by her.

"Which is different than what you normally do in what way…?" she asked facetiously.

"Fuck off," I retorted. "The only reason you're even here…" but I stopped myself before it was too late.

If I continued down this path it would only lead to more trouble. She couldn't know that the reason she was even involved was to take the fall for everything; that she was just a pawn being used. She needed to think she was integral to this plan.

"The only reason _I'm_ here? Huh? How about the only reason you're here is to be a fucking _messenger_. You're nothing! _I'm_ the brains behind this operation. You do what _I_ tell you to do - it's not the other way round," she whispered since people were starting to turn around and stare at us.

Boy, she really was delusional. She was the brains of the operation? But I supposed that would work to our advantage in the end. If she wanted to take credit for all this after the fallout, and there _would_be a fallout knowing how Bella and Co worked, that was totally fine with me. She probably wasn't even aware that there were already whispers of something going down, a take down in the making. Crazy biatch… that's why you don't mess in the major leagues when you're still a little leaguer.

"And this year's Prom Queen is Bella Swan," Mr. Torrence announced.

Victoria's face went blank – she was not expecting this. I smiled knowing her discomfort level and that she hadn't accounted for this. "Well, whataya know?" I quipped with a smirk. "What? Didn't you vote for Bella?" I asked with a laugh.

"Shut up," she said, getting up from the table in a huff.

"Just remember, braintrust, it would be wise to just stay quiet…" I warned as she headed for the exit.

If she opened her mouth it would just lead to her downfall but that, truly, wasn't my problem.

**so, whatya think? thoughts? concerns? theories? in case you didn't figure it out it's an anonymous POV or a mysterious POV, whichever way you want to think of it. a little mystery always adds to the suspense, lol**

**hope to hear from all of you ;) **

_**Happy Anniversary Growing Pains! your cotton/china present is in the mail ...**_


	38. Not Ready to Make Nice

**here goes yet another apology for keeping you guys waiting - i'm really soo sorry it's taken me so long to get this up. i'm so envious of the authors who are able to get up a chapter a week - really, i am in awe of you. i wish i was like that! i've been working on another story, which has yet to see the light of day yet - but it will. i think i just need to finish this one up before i turn my focus to that. so that, as well as some writer's block, and some work related business is the reason for my delay. soo so sorry!**

**i need to say thank you for everyone who has reviewed and stuck with the story, you guys are phenomenal and mean the world to me. all of your comments mean so much so really thank you for taking teh time and letting me know what you think. i really appreciate it. i don't know if i can actually tell you how much it means :)**

**a giant thank you to pennylaine for being there for me and listening and helping work out all the things i may have missed. basically, she just deserves a huge thank you for everything**

**i'll stop yammering on now...**

****BPOV

"Hello Victoria," I said, sauntering into the bathroom.

"Hi!" she answered bubbly as ever. Her back was towards me as she hunched over the bathroom counter, finishing a line off her pocket mirror. I guess Alice hadn't been exaggerating when she said Victoria had a bit of a drug problem. After a minute she finally straightened up, closing her compact. She turned towards me, rubbing her nose to make sure there were no leftover remnants. "Oh, hello," she said, more subdued this time, once she noticed who she was talking to.

She wasn't unpleasant, just more low key. She was _now_ trying to cover up the fact that she had been doing Coke all of two seconds ago; instead of trying to conceal this from the beginning like a normal person would have done…

"Well I see congratulations are in order," she said with a smile, feigning more enthusiasm than necessary and pointing to the crown on my head, "over your _all _your wins."

All my wins? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"There's no need for pleasantries. You can drop the act," I told her, walking towards her.

She didn't flinch with my statement, maintaining her composure. "What?" she asked with a giggle. If I didn't know better I would have said she sounded a little nervous. "What are you talking about Bella? What act? We're friends – what would I ever do to you?" she asked, cocking her head to the side and looking slightly taken aback. She was trying to work the angle of being offended.

I felt the door begin to open against my back; Edward was trying to make his grand entrance. I causally lifted my foot and scratched the back of my leg, just in case Victoria was watching, and then kicked the door behind me, keeping it shut. I wasn't ready for him to come in yet. I heard a quiet groan from behind the door; I must have smacked him in the head…oops. Well, he shouldn't have tried to come in yet – it wasn't time.

"We're friends huh?" I replied coolly, tracing a random design with my finger along the marble countertop. Distraction from what I was actually doing was imperative; I needed to keep her attention on something other than what I was actually saying. She would be more susceptible to letting something slip that way. And thus far it seemed to be working as I saw her eyes dart to watch what my fingers were doing. She seemed fairly engrossed in them, trying to make out the pattern.

"Well of course – why wouldn't we?" she asked again with a laugh, finally taking her eyes away the countertop. She was still playing along with the notion that everything was perfectly fine between the two of us. She took a small step back, though; maybe she didn't think this was such a friendly encounter after all.

I leaned against the door, making the point crystal clear to Edward that it wasn't time for him to come in... Well, not unless he wanted to get hit in the face again. "Oh I don't know," I replied, dragging my words out. "I don't really think friends try to sleep with their friends' boyfriends; maybe that's just me though," I continued, looking her directly in the eyes.

Her eyes darted up to meet mine and she held my gaze, not willing to back down. She kept shifting her weight back and forth, though, like she was uncertain of something. "That whole thing with Edward? You guys were together then?" she asked, trying to act as surprised as she could, being high and all. "I didn't know that; I mean _he_ was the one who had initiated everything. If I had known you two were together... I wouldn't have done anything with him – I assumed he was single by the way he was acting. You _have _to believe me; I wouldn't do anything to compromise _our_relationship."

She wouldn't do anything to compromise our relationship – yea right… I felt my temper flare up, trying to get the best of me. She was infuriating: trying to turn this all around on him, to make him out to be the bad guy! I should have seen this coming. She always tried to make herself look better and place the blame on someone else, manipulating the situation to her benefit. She had an uncanny way of deflecting negativity and escaping blame. I had seen it so many times in Charity Committee where she had totally escaped the wrath of the committee even though she had _totally_ fucked something up big time. Somehow, someone else would take the blame or she would come up with some feasible explanation to excuse her and everyone would just buy it. Not this time though.

I needed to remain calm and not flip on her too soon. I softened my gaze and tried to keep my voice as calm as possible; I wanted to see how, exactly, this was going to pan out so I needed play along. "What do you mean? How was he acting?" I inquired further, relaxing my stance slightly. Maybe if I looked less confrontational, like I believed what she was saying, she'd open up more. It was worth a shot.

And my assumption proved correct. As soon as my posture shifted and I uncrossed my arms Victoria relaxed as well –looking less jumpy than before. Amateur - you _never_ let your guard down.

She began fumbling with her hands and bit her lip, like she was nervous. "It wasn't anything blatant, just little things he did: like a touch here and there, little things he said, the proximity that closed between us during the night. By the middle of dinner I knew he was _definitely_ interested. So I started flirting more… Who wouldn't – I mean, he's fucking Edward Cullen, you'd have to be insane to _not_ flirt back. By the time we left dinner he practically carried me to the elevator going back to his room," she said with just a hint of a smile across her lips which flattened out into a hard line, hinting that there was more to the story.

"What? Did something else happen that night?" I asked taking a few steps closer to her, feigning concern. Well, it was up to Edward's digression now when he was going to come in; hopefully, that would coincide with when _I_wanted him to come in.

She took a breath and nodded, allowing the gravity of what she was about to say to sink in. "There was...," her voice trembled slightly as she played with her hands even more. She was twitchy but that could have been due to the unknown quantity of cocaine she just ingested.

I had to admit that she was better than I gave her credit for; she was more believable than I anticipated. She had a vulnerability to her that made you almost want to believe what she was telling you.

"I was into it as we were going up the elevator but when we got up to his room I hesitated; I wasn't sure if I really wanted to go forward with this. I mean of course I wanted to go through with it but I didn't want him to think I was some sort of slut and spread that around school. I didn't want to rush into anything too quickly; I really liked him. I had reservations and wanted to slow things down but he didn't stop; he didn't even _listen_ to what I was telling him... He's not as great as he seems Bella," she said in all seriousness.

_Really_ – she was trying to insinuate _this_? She had some balls to claim this bullshit; it was utterly preposterous.

I felt my restraint lessening with each passing minute, especially at what she was trying to imply. I couldn't let that show at all, though. I took a few breaths to calm myself down which, surprisingly, did the trick. I walked closer to her placing my hand, reassuringly, on her arm to make it appear like I was trying to comfort her; in actuality, I was blocking her from trying to get away. As soon as Edward came in the door she would try to bolt and I couldn't have her leaving before I was done with her. "Are you saying what I think you're saying: that you said no but he didn't stop? That you didn't want to go through with it and he forced himself on you?" I asked, patting her arm gently and urging her to continue. She nodded again as her eyes started welling up.

I moved my hand from her arm to the counter in front of her, so that my body was now directly blocking her from the exit; she'd, literally, have to go through me before she could leave this bathroom. "Why didn't you press charges?" I inquired, pressing her for answers. If I pressed enough and asked for more details she would eventually slip up.

She looked down at the ground, avoiding eye contact. "I guess I was too embarrassed. I didn't want to admit that something like that could happen to me. But I feel a little better, now, since I opened up to you; I feel like I can really trust you," she stated, now looking at me with doe eyes.

Jesus, how was I supposed to play along with this crazy biatch's theory when it was just getting more and more insane? I felt no empathy for her, just unadulterated loathing. I reminded myself that this was necessary for the plan. I needed her to think I was on her side but I wasn't sure how long I could keep this rational side of me going when every second that I looked at her made me want to bash her face into the counter even more.

_You're doing this for you and Edward_, I reminded myself yet again before I spoke again. "I get that," I sympathized with her as she looked down, "but there's just one thing that I don't understand; maybe you could explain that to me."

She finally met my gaze again with a sniffle but said nothing, like she was waiting for me to continue. She really was getting into the role of the frightened and timid little girl, trying to play up the sympathy vote. Yes, she was much, _much_ better than any of us had given her credit for – and she was even high. I could only imagine how this would have played out if she was totally sober.

And that was the final straw; her last, staged, sniffle sent me over the edge. I wasn't planning on concluding my interrogation of her this quickly but I couldn't hold it in anymore; it was time to release the Bella that I had been holding back. "You just seemed very, er - _enthusiastic_, by the time I got there for someone claiming that she was taken advantage of. You seemed quite spirited by that point– which doesn't quite gel with what you just told me," I stated, now moving directly in front of her and changing my stance and tone from something sympatric and understanding to one that was completely confrontational. "_In fact_, it seemed like you were having a fantastic time that night and you were more than willing to tell me all about it... but that was the point. This whole façade, from that night to right now, has all been for my benefit since this whole concocted story _never_ actually happened; isn't that right? No you don't have to answer that – cause he can do it for you."

As if on cue Edward slowly pushed open the door and stood directly in front of it; making the point abundantly clear, in case she hadn't figured it out yet, that she wasn't leaving until _we_ were ready for her to leave. Her eyes flickered with shock and surprise for just a moment, realizing that she had been set up and then glazed back over, as if she was about to cry again. She, quickly, returned to the timid and broken girl she claimed to be when it was just the two of us. She knew she was cornered but wasn't dropping her act.

"Don't let him come closer," she whispered in a frantic voice and grabbed my arm, causing me to roll my eyes. Did she really think that I was still on her side?

"So what _exactly _are you accusing me of?" he asked with no warmth to his voice or eyes at all: he was stone cold.

If I were her I would have been a little concerned at this point...

"I think we all know that nothing happened that night, so why don't you just admit it?" Edward continued.

Victoria defended her position without hesitation. "You're the one who can drop the act – I already told Bella everything that happened!"

"Oh, _you_ told her? Well then that _totally_ clears things up..." he said, snorting loudly. "It just so happens that I told her what happened too; but I willingly gave up the information - I wasn't cornered into doing so. I wonder who she's going to believe? I told her everything: from the moment Bella and I got off the phone earlier that night to the minute that we met in the hallway. And just in case she didn't believe me, I've got a restaurant full of people and security footage from the hotel to back up my story – what have you got?" he said, challenging her with a look that dared her to even breath.

Security footage? I suppressed the surprised look that I know was trying to take over my face – this was news to me. My eyes darted to his for any sort of explanation, since he had never mentioned anything about this before. His eyes met mine for a split second, softening; as if to say just go with it, before the hardened expression took over his face again directing his attention back towards Victoria.

She was quiet; at this point I couldn't quite figure out what Victoria was thinking. She looked like she really wanted to answer Edward but was hesitant for some reason. He picked up on this as well and just waited for her to say the wrong thing. This could quickly turn into a battle of he said, she said, if I didn't watch it and then the whole point of this confrontation would be lost.

As much as I had no problem watching the two of them go at it, the verbal sparring wasn't going to get us anywhere helpful and needed to be kept to a minimum. Maybe I was right, that it had been a bad idea to have Edward in here with her after all, especially with what she had just accused him of. Neither of us could have foreseen that Victoria was going to spout off this bull shit, though. I was pissed off enough for the both of us before, and now with her insinuating that he had taken advantage of her, it was _really_ too much. I could only imagine how Edward was taking it and what he actually wanted to say to her. He was staying surprisingly calm, maybe a little too calm, but I didn't know how long that was going to last. I needed to intervene before things got too out of hand. Besides, I was ready to lay into her; I wasn't about to let Edward have all the fun.

I gingerly turned towards Victoria to observe her: she looked as resolute as ever, like Edward was the one making this entire thing up. When she noticed I was watching her, though, she softened her demeanor. "Bella, you believe me, don't you? Why would I lie to you about this?" she asked in a gentle voice, the way one might speak to an infant. She was trying to lull me onto her side by trying to make me feel protective over her- by making herself look weaker than she actually was. I supposed she thought I was easily convinced by her dramatics…

Edward and I moved closer to each other, as if we both knew we needed to put forth a united front. We needed to show Victoria we were on the same page and that nothing she said would turn us against each other again. Even though I knew that everything she said was a lie, there was something about her that made you want to believe her. Victoria's manipulation skills were far more advanced than I gave her credit for but her evasion from the truth was stopping here. Edward had been right; she was trying to play us against each other. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice...fuck you, that wasn't going to happen.

My face hardened in resoluteness and anger. "Well that is the question of the hour: why would you lie about this in the first place? What, exactly _did_ you have to gain from breaking us up? I think _that_ matter needs to be addressed since that's the only true statement you've uttered since I came in here. What's your motivating force, I mean, aside from just being a bitch?" I asked her point blank, beginning to pace in front of her.

"What are you talking about – I didn't have any motives. I wasn't trying to hurt you – I was just telling the truth. You deserve to know the truth and what you're getting yourself into – that's why I told you. He's the one who did this! You should be mad at him; I didn't do anything wrong. I'm just trying to help you; can't you see that?" she pleaded, her voice trembling and tears welling up in her eyes again but I cut her off.

I moved from Edward's side and went directly in front of Victoria – I was done playing. If she thought he was menacing, she hadn't seen anything yet. I would make Edward look like a fluffy puppy. "Cut the crap," I growled at her, moving even closer to her. There was no way that I could conceal my true feeling for her any longer and my face showed that. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I paced: I looked fierce and deadly, even he took a little step back. "There's no fucking way I'd _ever_ believe anything you have to say after everything you've already done. You're a lying, manipulative, _nobody_ who makes calculated moves solely for your own benefit. You don't care about anyone other than yourself. I take back all that about wanting to know what made you want to do this cause, now, I don't fucking care since your sticking with your little story," I told her coldly, now circling around her like a shark stalking its prey. She was a whimpering mess who looked slightly deflated, like I had taken the air out of her sails, but I could tell that none of this was genuine; she was still trying to get me to buy into her act.

"So listen _very_ closely now: I'm done with your lies and false accusation. All of this stops tonight: I want you gone. I'll even be generous and give you until the end of the week. You can either leave Forks and this school on your own accord, pretending like this year never happened and never uttering a word about Forks, this past year, me and my friends ever again, or I will personally make your life a living hell. You think I don't mean it: _try me_," I told her menacingly, without flinching. "I'll make this little game you're trying to play look like a day at the beach by the time I'm done... You got that?" I threatened, meaning every word I said. If she didn't believe me, I dared her to challenge me. In fact, I wanted her to.

She straightened up suddenly and looked me square in the eyes. Apparently she was over playing her games too. "What? Did you really think I was just going to leave 'cause you told me to'?" she asked with a sickeningly sweet laugh, blinking away her tears in an instant.

This chick was a psycho… She was acting like a crazy person you see in all those slasher flicks with her frantic laughing and the insane look in her eyes. I braced myself for the serial killer knife to come out of her clutch while she cackled away at any moment.

Her face morphed into something cold. She was no longer that scared and timid girl with tears in her eyes who had tried to convince me that she was really on my side – her true feelings were now on display. There was a fire in her eyes and a swagger about her that I hadn't seen before – like there was nothing we could do to get to her: that she was untouchable. Finally, we were about to see the _real_ Victoria. "You think _you_ scare me? Or any of you for that matter?" she said, glancing fleetingly at Edward, before stepping closer to me so that there were mere inches apart. "Bring it on cause I'm not going anywhere. Your reign of supremacy is over Prom Queen," she spat at me as a cruel smile danced across her lips.

Edward was by my side immediately as Victoria reached for her purse behind me. He must have been worried she was going to try to hit me and some sort of battle royale was going to break out in the middle of a girl's bathroom. We were both on edge but I wasn't about to go all trailer park on her ass.

Victoria just grabbed her purse, without trying anything else, and headed for the door. "Be seeing you," she said, giving me an air kiss before leaving.

"I was hoping she would say that. Let the games begin," I stated, adjusting my crown.

It had been a couple days since Prom and we had all been laying low, which was slowly killing me. We had decided it was best to let a little time pass before any of our plans came to fruition but I was getting more than a little impatient. I was not one to wait around to get what I wanted… And what I wanted was Victoria gone _now_; was that really too much to ask for? Ever since Prom she had been walking around the school like she owned the damn place and my tolerance was very quickly waning.

Jane had already been notified and had given Victoria's test to her "customer" earlier in the week. The class had taken the last Friday so they should be getting their grades today, especially since Edward had asked Jane not give back the tests until today. Victoria should also have gotten her English paper back today as well, if they hadn't already been returned. The papers were due weeks ago but teachers' return rate of papers at this school was abysmal – it wasn't surprising that it had taken this long. But even this had been a wait - the grades should be in by now, damnit. I knew we couldn't control the turnaround rate of the English papers, since our inside person didn't even know that she had helped us, but a month for grading was _more_than enough time.

I checked my phone yet again; the fifthtieth time in the last twenty minutes. Edward was supposed to send me a text confirming that Jane had passed back the tests but there was still nothin... I started worrying. My brain was racing a mile a minute, concocting different scenarios in my head which didn't help matters. The longer I waited the more elaborate the scenario became. The teacher could have found out about Jane's cheating ring, forcing Jane to use our plan for Victoria as leverage to get out of her punishment and which woulod get Edward shipped off to god knows where because they tried to make an example out of him... Jane was always a favorite of Aro's, a pet of his even, and if Edward was implicated... He would be going down instead of her, without a doubt. By the time the text would actually come, this scenario would probably have Edward in some Siberian prison exiled for some unknown reason. I thought, without a question, that we were done for. The text just needed to come, if only just to keep my sanity.

I began anxiously tapping a pen against my desk. I just needed to know things were okay. Once I knew _that_, that things were good and that the second phase of the plan had been set into motion, I could finally sit back and relax a little: we would be in clear. Edward just needed to send that damn text… _now_.

"Can you chill out; you're going to break your pen in half the way your tapping it," Em teased, grinning. "That or the pen's going to fly out of your hand and impale someone in the eye."

I glared at him; I was _not_amused.

"Don't you give me that death stare; it's not my fault he's not texting you faster. Besides, if anyone's going to stare the other person down it should be _me_ staring _you _down. It's been five days – five whole days - and you have yet to tell be about the whole Jasper-and-Alice-are-a-couple secret-and-having-a torrid-love-affair. I'm truly offended I wasn't included in this cover up _AND_ that you kept it from me," he said, feigning hurt feelings. "How rude!"

"That's nice," I stated absentmindedly, still staring down at my phone. I hadn't paid attention to what he had said, really. It was most likely something about Rose; I could rely on that. Or maybe it was Jasper; he was still bitching about J being Prom king. No wait, he just said something about Alice _and _Jasper, which I had to probably respond to accordingly...and I hadn't. He would know I wasn't listening to what he was saying if I didn't respond the right way quickly. I thought about it for a minute and tried to recollect what he just said: it was about not telling him about the two of them, yet again. Something else to add to Em's 'What to Bitch about Today' list. "Don't feel too bad – I didn't say anything to Edward either," I told him, focusing a little more on what he was saying.

"Well, then spill it," he said, yanking the phone away from me. "I'll at least feel better that I found out before boy wonder."

I glared at the phone-napper and reached for the phone, willing him to give me the phone. I didn't want to tell him anything right now, especially since he jacked my phone. I would have protested in a more verbose manner but I didn't want to make a scene in the middle of Psych. We were working in partners, so it was already loud, but I figured that yelling, and possibly even punching, would arise suspicions and draw a bit too much attention.

"Give it back," I growled quietly. He simply shook his head with a growing grin. I extended my hand even further, so that it was now across his body, but still nothing.

"How bout I put it between the two of us, in the middle, so you can see if it blows up while you tell me about Alice and Jasper. I need details and it seems like you're only going to tell me if I'm holding your phone hostage," he said with a chuckle. "Besides, I think it would be in _everyone's_ best interest if we discuss this topic when Rosie _isn't _around. She's still freaking out about the two of them and more than a little pissed that no one told her about it. She's a lot less angry at Alice for some reason– which I don't get at all. I told her the reason no one told her was because you all knew she was gonna act like a god damn crazy person but she didn't really wanna hear that either. See this bruise," he said pointing to his arm with a slight pouty face, "that's what she did when I simply mentioned to someone else that they were sorta cute together."

"What, can't keep your woman in check?" I laughed. I tried to keep my mouth shut and stay annoyed with him but I couldn't help it; Emmett was always able to lighten the mood and distract me. The topper of all this was Rosalie beating him up: that was always, and will always be, hilarious. You can't stay upset with Emmett when you can visualize Rose punching him and Emmett just sitting there and taking it. "Don't act like this is because Rose isn't around. I know this is just because you're _dying_ of curiosity. We all know you're the biggest gossip out of all of us – hands down. You're so nosey. And, _on top of it_, you're fucking pushy about it too; _you_'re the one who should really relax," I teased back.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah; I'm a girl… let's move past that. Get on with it missy!" he further pressed, getting antsy.

He wasn't going to quit harassing me until I finally gave in and told him. I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to rehash the rise of Alice and Jasper as a couple - again. For the second time this week I was forced to discuss them; didn't people realize I had other things on my mind? Edward had tried to get info out of me too but I, somehow, stayed strong then. Well, the starting to make out with him probably had something to do with my ability to distract him. Unfortunately, I couldn't just make out with Emmett to get him off my back... well, not without some repercussions.

I was sick of discussing all things Alice and Jasper. Being the secret keeper has its pros, but generally, it isn't what it's made out to be. You're the one people confide in and are expected to stay mute about it until they're ready for the big unveil but then when everything comes out in the open _you're_the one who gets all the damn questions and everyone gets mad at for keeping it a secret– not them. Balls! Hopefully this would at least be a good distraction from glancing at my phone every two seconds.

I let out a huff, letting him my exacerbation with this subject. Emmett ignored it, though, making a hurry up motion with his hand. Like I said, the bastard was getting antsy. "There's not really much to say about the two of them. I mean, you know Alice – once she puts her mind to something, she usually gets it. This time, what she wanted was Jasper," I explained, fumbling with my pen again and trying hard not to stare at the phone. So far, distraction not working…

"So this happened fairly recently then?" he asked, snatching the pen away from me too now. He was quite grabby today…

I tilted my head to the side and bit the side of my mouth. "I wouldn't, exactly, say recently… maybe a little while after you and Rosalie got together. Maybe a little before? I'm not exactly sure; they were definitely together when we went to LA," I answered him.

"_What?_!" he yelped. All the desks close to us turned around to see what the commotion was all about.

"I just told him I got into Columbia," I explained to our classmates, trying to placate their interest. It seemed to work because they quickly went back to work over the lack of news. Getting into Columbia wasn't really noteworthy in Forks: it was like getting into a junior college – it was everyone's fallback school.

That threw Em for a loop. "Wait you got into Columbia? I didn't think you applied," Emmett asked, confused.

"I was throwing them off the trail Em…" I mumbled to him.

"Oh," he said sheepishly and looked down. "_Anyway_, I knew that asshole was seeing someone! Jazz had been all secretive and vague about his plans and what he'd been doing after school since October but he kept denying that he was seeing a girl; he kept claiming that he was working on college applications or some bullshit like that. Granted, I thought he was just fucking some cheerleader that he wanted to keep a secret… but my instincts weren't wrong and I _was_ right about the cheerleader!" Emmett beamed, proud of himself. "Wait, so you've known this _whole_time, for like seven months? And you said nothing?"

"Kinda…" I replied, looking away from him and evading the question. Like I said, the secret keeper always got the brunt of it.

I looked back down and the moment I had been waiting for had arrived. My phone had gone off; Edward had finally text! And not soon enough; I didn't want to hear Em bitch even more about how I'd kept him in the dark this whole time.

"So all those times they were meeting for ASB or music committee they were…. Wait a minute, there _never was_a music committee was there? It was just something Alice concocted so the rest of us wouldn't question why they were together so much," he stated, the light bulb going off.

Sometimes it took a while for him to connect the dots... I couldn't be bothered answering him, though, my phone was lit up and I wanted to see what that text said. I grabbed my phone and quickly opened up the text.

_We're good. Alice already got a call_

It was good news: everything was fine and had gone to plan. This text was concocted to let me know everything was okay without explicitly saying anything. We were taking precautions so that nothing could get traced back to us later on, just in case someone's phone got intercepted. I felt a heavy weight lifted off my shoulders; no one was getting expelled...today at least. I finally relaxed against the chair, closing my eyes and allowing my neck to rest against the top of my chair, as I handed my phone to Emmett so he could read the text.

"We'll discuss at lunch?" he asked.

I nodded my head, keeping my eyes closed since I knew the bell was about to ring. I just wanted to enjoy this for just a moment before we started this process _all_over again. It was pointless to rehash this with Emmett now when we were meeting up with everyone at lunch in two minutes and would have to go over the next phase of the plan again. I exhaled; everything was working out as planned. There was no reason for me to have been stressing but that was me, the worrier.

"Remember your paper on some form of psychosis is due this Friday," Dr. Leonard reminded us as the bell let us out.

This paper was cake; it hadn't taken me more than a couple hours to crank it out. I didn't need to do any research whatsoever. I had my very own, personal case study on delusional and obsessive behavior to use… thank you Victoria.

Em and I walked to our lunch table. The other four were already there, sipping on coffee, nibbling at their lunches and generally acting like nothing was adrift. Jasper and Alice were in their newly, _very_PDA filled coupled up state, whispering inside jokes between the two of them, while Edward and Rosalie were bickering over something which could be heard from across the room. Like I said, the norm – it was an off day if Rose and Edward weren't bickering.

"Hey babe," Emmett called out before grabbing the seat next to Rose and giving her a quick kiss. I took the last open seat in between Alice and Edward. The seating breakdown had become the new standard and went as followed: Jasper, Alice, me, Edward, Emmett, Rosalie. Rose and Jasper needed to be kept as far away from each other as possible at all times. They still weren't really speaking and if they did, a full scale brawl usually followed. Generally at school they tried to remain civil and keep the peace, saving all the real fighting for when it was just the six of us.

"How was class?" I asked casually, trying to keep things very generic and boring; just in case anyone was listening in.

"Same old crap, nothing exciting," Alice commented in the same bored tone, passing me a note in the process.

I opened the halved paper and found that the note was actually from Mr. Davidson asking Alice to come to a disciplinary hearing after school. I felt Edward's head next to mine – he was reading the note along with me. His head was in the crook of my neck, resting comfortably there; this small action made my heart do a quick little flip.

"Everything went smoothly in class for me too," Edward told everyone else. Apparently he hadn't sent anyone else a text about what went down as they all looked over at him anxiously. "I told you everything was going to be alight," he said, low enough so that only I could hear him, and then kissed the side of my head.

I passed Alice's note over to the other side of the table so they could check it out. Rose read the note and asked, "Has she been notified yet?"

Alice shook her head. "They wanted to make sure everyone could make it to the meeting before they told her. They'll probably spring it on her now or next period. They don't like to give the accusee a lot of time beforehand just in case there's evidence they try to manipulate," she explained.

Emmett raised his eyebrows doubting that was actually the case.

"It's happened in the past and the person got off scot free," Alice continued.

"Ok, so they'll spring it on her, you guys will have a meeting, and everything will go down accordingly? Yet another successful takedown gone off without a hitch," Rose stated putting it all together.

Alice scrunched her face in frustration for just a moment and then frowned. "_In theory _that should happen but I can't predict what the committee is going to decide. I can only press so much before suspicions arise over my motives. I _believe_ that they'll choose expulsion, since she was caught twice for cheating, but who knows," she explained, slightly dejected. I knew she wanted absolute certainty about the outcome of this hearing but couldn't guarantee anything which was driving her nuts.

Alice was _always_ right: either by knowing the outcome ahead of time through skewing facts in her favor, convincing people into believing what she told them beyond a doubt, or making sure she was able to manipulate people and the evidence. It was the rarity when she was indecisive over anything and she _hated_ that feeling. It made her anxious which seemed to be contagious as I looked at my friends around the lunch table. This was the only time I had ever seen Alice shaken in her abilities.

"Well you _are_ a stickler for the rules," Edward mused, trying to lighten the mood. "If they know you at all they'll know that, _that_ is your motivation for her expulsion. I have full confidence in you persuasion capabilities munchkin," he said, putting on a brave face and attempting to reassure her. I could tell he wanted to believe what he was telling her but even he was uncertain of the outcome.

"Well that makes one of us," she said pouting and pushing away from the table.

"Hold on... "Jasper mumbled, with a look on his face that made it seem like he was working out something in his head. "Wait a damn minute...," he said with more enthusiasm and smiling. "What if there was more evidence presented at this hearing; wouldn't that almost guarantee her expulsion?"

Alice glanced over at him confused for half a second and then immediately understood. Her face lit up instantly and she started planting light kisses all over his face causing him to laugh and making Rosalie shudder and make a heaving noise. "You're brilliant!" she exclaimed with a jubilant clap.

"Is that why you're dating him?" Rosalie murmured.

Emmett elbowed her in the side which she did not take kindly to. Jasper ignored the comment altogether; he had learned it was better to ignore than to engage when this topic came around with Rose; unless he was in the mood for a very loud argument.

"Maybe..." Alice teased, as if she was going to give this idea some serious thought before she intertwined their fingers and started giggling to herself. Jasper smiled back, lifting their hands and kissing the back of Alice's before pulling her closer. They were just so damn adorable together.

My usual moment of happiness over their cuteness was cut short, though; I was utterly perplexed over what the hell J and Alice were talking about. I looked over at Em, Edward and Rosalie who looked just as confused. We were missing something – and I felt like it was something obvious. Edward looked over at Alice for a moment and exchanged looks now too. I watched him as he quickly realized what was going on. It only took him a second to get on the same wavelength as the other two; it was really quite annoying when he did that. Edward was always so perceptive and attuned to what everyone _else_ was thinking.

"Do you think you can manage to delay the hearing?" Edward asked with a smug grin, pleased with the turn of events. His demeanor, as had Alice and J's, had shifted from skepticism to utter certainty.

Like I said: annoying. Didn't he think the rest of us wanted to know what was going on?

"That I can definitely do," Alice said with a dazzling smile. "I'd be disappointed in myself if I couldn't."

"Maybe not tomorrow but later tonight, in the evening?" Edward added but Alice was already shaking her head like she had already thought of that.

Before Alice could say anything more, I cut her off. "Um, do you mind telling _the rest_ of us what the hell is going on? I'm glad you three have this figured out but _I_ would really like to know what the hell you all are talking about," I sighed, irritated.

Edward pulled me closer and kissed the side of my head again once he noticed my agitation. That fucker loved it when I was irritated – he couldn't help but smirk. My irritability greatly lessoned once he did that – I couldn't help myself. "The pictures Bella," he explained. "We just need to get them to Victoria's parents before she's notified of the ethics hearing; the drugs and the partying will further reinforces her downward spiral to her parents and the ethics council. Alice will look like the concerned student worrying over her well being, looking out for Victoria's best interest. But the pictures have to come before hand otherwise it'll look sketch."

It took me a second to put all these pieces together. "J, that really _is_ brilliant," I stated with a smile.

Jasper looked offended. "What's with all the doubt? Did all of you think I was Emmett?" he joked.

Emmett threw an empty water bottle at him which Jasper easily avoided. "And that's why _I'm_ king punk," he told him with a wink, just to rile Em up even more. Jasper always loved pushing his buttons.

"Don't," Rosalie warned without even looking over at Emmett, her tone said enough.

"Fine," Em grumbled.

"Alice, why don't you go arrange a later meeting time and make sure that the announcement hasn't gone out yet," I suggested, steering the conversation back to its original topic.

"I'm already on it – emailing as we speak," she said, getting up and typing away on her phone. "You talk to Mikey and tell him I'll give him the deets for tonight soon," she shouted before disappearing into the hallway.

And with that the bell rang signaling the end to yet another lunch. This period was over faster than anticipated but that tended to happen when we plotted. The rest of us gingerly made our way up from the table, throwing away the remainder of our lunches and heading to our prospective classes.

"Let me know what's up – if you need any help," Rosalie called out as she and Emmett disappeared into the hallway. I nodded before they were totally gone hoping that she saw this.

Edward pulled me along to Bio as I processed the change in plans and how this was all going to go down. The worrying swept over me once again. I had a feeling the change in plan would work but I couldn't help but be concerned; overanalyzing and worrying was just in my nature. "Are you sure this is going to work out?" I asked him with skepticism in my voice, peering over at Victoria across the courtyard.

"Just let Mike know what's up – everything will be fine," he reassured me. "There's absolutely nothing to worry over."

"What's taking so long?" I asked, pacing back and forth across my room.

"They'll be here soon; just relax," James replied.

Soon? Relax? Those two words were no in my vocabulary at the moment. James had said that exact same thing to me 20 minutes ago and they still weren't here _and_ I wasn't any calmer. In fact I had worked myself up even more. Mike and Alice had gone over to Victoria's house hours ago and we still hadn't heard from anyone yet: not a peep. I was starting to get very worried. I looked over at everyone else – they didn't look worried. Was I the only one freaking out? They looked a tad on edge but no one else was stressing the way I was; they looked more anxious than anything else.

I glanced at the clock again: it was almost 9:30. The meeting at school had to be over by this point.

"I'll be right back," Edward said making his way for the door. "Grabbing some water – anyone else want anything?"

No one answered or paid much attention to him. None of them appeared to be worried but no one was exactly have a grand ole time either. I glanced down at my phone again – still nothing. I paced some more trying to kill time. The minutes seemed to drag on – five minutes felt like an eternity. I now wished we had gone with Emmett's plan of bugging Alice and Mike while they talked to her parents so we could have at least heard what went on. No, I thought that was going overboard, that it was unnecessary – Jesus that was stupid.

I walked to my other window, which faced the backyard, and noticed that the light in the library was on which was odd. No one went in there except for me and dad – and he was away on business. I strained my eyes, looking at little harder to see if I could make out who was in there but I saw nothing. I was too far away. The door opened and I saw Mike walk into the hallway. Without hesitation I flew out my room and down the stairs.

"B, where are you going?" Jasper yelled out but I was already a few feet from the library now.

Mike was standing on the outside of the room just waiting, like he was expecting me. "What took so long? Where's Alice? How did it go? What did they say? Why didn't you call? Why are you in the library? Who else is here?" I asked. Questions were popping up in my mind faster than I could spit them out.

"Stop, take a deep breath and just relax," he told me.

"Everyone needs to _stop_ telling me to relax – _what happened_?" I ordered loudly, not quite at yelling level yet. I would refrain from doing that unless I didn't get the answers I was searching for.

"Chill - everything is fine; there's just been a change in plan," he explained, staying very stoic and calm.

A change in plan – I didn't like how that sounded. "What do you mean exactly?"I inquired, lowering my voice slightly.

"Bella, you've got to stay calm. Do not go flying off the handle; you've got to promise me that before I tell you anything," Mike stated.

I just looked at him; I wasn't about to make any promises about staying calm when it involved Victoria. "Tell me what it is now and then I'll decide if I'm going to stay calm or not," I hissed.

"Bells, I'm serious – this is all on thin ice so you've got to stay even keel," Mike pressed.

I couldn't imagine what was going on that I needed to stay so calm about. And what was he talking about 'on thin ice'?

"Just promise Bells," he urged.

I considered it and then finally nodded my head. I'd try my best… He gave me an earnest look; he wanted me to say the words.

"I promise…" I told him, begrudgingly.

"Okay, then we can go into the library," he stated, opening the door. "Just think of you happy place – waterfalls, beaches, puppies…calm thoughts, okay?"

I walked through the door and Edward immediately grabbed my hand and then wrapped his arm around my waist. For a brief second I thought he did this just out of normal habit but when I saw Victoria, I knew this was to restrain me. All I could see was Victoria; I couldn't focus on anything else except for her. _Why_ was this bitch in my house?

"Michael Alexander Swan!" I yelled. My brother had totally lost his mind. Why would he bring _her_ here; to our house of all places? Edward kept a firm grasp around me as I lurched for Mike. I fought him on this and made it a fair distance before Edward pulled me back to him. Even as he pulled me back I still tried to wiggle out of his grasp. I might be small but I was scrappy.

"Let's just hear her out," Edward whispered, as he played with my hair trying to get me to simmer down.

Now I looked at him like _he_ had lost his mind. What was wrong with both of them and where the hell was Alice? And again, why was she in my fucking house!

"Now repeat everything you told me at your house to them: _verbatim_," Mike ordered coldly, as he turned and locked the door to the library. The message was clear: one way in and one way out.

Victoria walked around, looking at the books and making herself comfortable before she settled in to tell us whatever information she had.

She was just wasting our time: I knew it, she knew it – we all knew it. She was just stalling so she could come up with some way to get herself out of this. I didn't believe for a second that she had anything of use to say to us. I started fighting against Edward's arms, again, to get closer. If they weren't going to say anything to her and kick her out of my house, I sure as hell was; Edward kept his arms locked around my waist, though, I wasn't budging.

"Love, calm down – Mike had to have brought her here for a reason," Edward said only to me. His voice was so low I doubted anyone else could have heard him.

I looked up at him and he gave me a quick kiss, calming me down a little more. I adjusted, settling into a more comfortable position against his chest as he held me. I was positive he wasn't about to let me go, so I figured I'd make myself as comfortable as I could.

"It would probably be in your best interest to get to the point quickly," Edward elaborated coldly, glancing at me for a second. I was staying calm for now but I think we all knew that could change at any minute.

"Before I say anything – I want a confirmation that all this cheating _bullshit _will be dropped. I'm not saying anything until I get your word on this," she said.

Both Mike and Edward shook their head resolutely. I did nothing though – I _was not_ agreeing to that if I could avoid it.

"No, I don't want to hear it from you two: I want to hear it from her," Victoria spat.

Everyone looked at me. I didn't want to make this promise because I didn't want to keep it. I wanted her gone; no, I wanted her _destroyed_. I stood there motionless. Victoria and I sat there staring at each other for minutes.

"Just agree to it," Mike said, moving closer to me.

"I can't; I'd be lying. All I said was I'd hear her out – that is it," I commented back. I was fuming that Mike had put me in this position.

"She said she would leave," Edward interjected.

I turned and looked at him. Did he know what she was about to say? "And you trust here?" I scoffed, giving her the dirtiest look I could muster. "When did she say this; do you know what's going on?" I asked, turning back towards them and getting more upset that Mike _and_ Edward were keeping things from me too now.

"Mike said she told him that. She hasn't said anything since I came in the room: she was waiting for you," he explained.

I looked back at Victoria and studied her posture and overall demeanor: she didn't seem aggressive or that she was lying but I needed to have her say this. "Is it true? Will you leave if I pardon you?" I asked her.

"_Pardon me?_ Who do you think you are? I can't _believe_ I'm about to do this," she scoffed.

Both Edward and Mike gave me a hard look, trying to curtail anything I was about to say - which didn't work. "Who am _I_?" I began, narrowing my eye at her and ready to unleash everything I had pent up since I walked in the door.

Edward cut me off, though. "Well you don't have to; we'd be more than happy to go along with everything that's in the works already," he replied harshly.

She considered this for a moment before answering. "I'll go as long as all the charges against me have been dropped. I just want this done with. I want some semblance of a life back eventually," she replied in almost a defeated manor. But I'd seen this act before – I couldn't trust what she was saying.

"And once you've helped us out," Mike interjected.

"And once I've helped you guys out…" she repeated, with a slight edge to this bit; she didn't want to help me out one bit.

I looked over at Mike first, who seemed to believe what she said. Then to Edward, who looked more skeptical, but still seemed to believe she was being truthful. They both wanted me to hear her out, so I'd take one for the team and listen. No one could ever say I wasn't a team player…

I thought about my choice of words before I spoke; if I was about to agree to this I wanted to make sure there were no loopholes in my statement. I didn't want to give her any wiggle room at all. "Fine: once you explain what happened and assist us in _any_ capacity that we need, all charges against you will be dropped and you can go on your merry way and never come back to Forks again. And when I say never, _I mean it_. No coming back to see family, friends, transcripts whatever – I want you gone. Make up whatever excuse you want to your parents to get them to move but get it done," I told her.

"So you're _exiling_ me?" she exclaimed as if this was some ridiculous notion.

"That's _exactly_ what I'm doing – those are the terms. You can start all over, from scratch with a clean record as long as you never come back here, or no deal. The cheating, the pictures… _everything_ will follow you," I warned, with just a hint of a smirk on the edge of my lips.

She glared at me for a moment; she didn't want to agree but she had no choice if she wanted her life to go back to the way it was. "Fine," she agreed, begrudgingly.

"So spill it then," I told her.

Again, she just stared at me; giving me the dirtiest look imaginable. I knew she had to hate the fact that I was telling her what she could and couldn't do which just made me smile even more.

"Where exactly do you want me to start?" she asked looking at Mike.

"Why don't you start after the part where your parents said they're sending you to rehab once the school year is over," Mike suggested.

I knew this bit of information shouldn't make me even happier but it did. I could rest assure the summer would be calm because her ass would be locked up in the middle of Utah or something.

"Fine," she said flatly, clearly not thrilled with the fact that she had to go to rehab either. "Once my parents were done praising Alice and Mike for trying to 'steer me on the good and righteous path', as my father put it, I was desperate to not get kicked out of school too. I wanted to at least have a clean academic record, since my personal one is going to be tainted with this damn rehab stint. I needed to make sure nothing was going to stay in the way of my future college plans; getting expelled for cheating and drugs isn't exactly something desirable at Oxford. So I tried anything I could think of as a bargaining tool, even if that meant helping you. I told Alice and Mike everything I knew about what was going on. That I wasn't alone when I planned all of this," Victoria said, taking a breath.

Now my curiosity was piqued. She wasn't alone in this? That made sense – she would have needed someone to help with all of this. Why didn't I think of this sooner?

"I told them how I was approached by someone. They asked if I was interested in dating Cullen and if I wanted to knock Bella down off her giant pedestal. The answer to both of those was of course, yes. You know, you really thought you were untouchable, that you could do no wrong… It was a lot of fun to take you down a few notches especially since you act so much better than the rest of us. You know you're not right?" she said pausing again but this time waiting for my response.

I said nothing to her. I just watched her, waiting for her to continue. She wasn't going to bait me into anything; I wouldn't give her the satisfaction.

She snickered a bit. "At first I had doubts since you were nice to me, much nicer than the rest, but then your true colors came out. You weren't any better than Alice or Rosalie, in fact, you were worse. At least with them you knew what you got; you always knew your place with them. Initially, it was difficult figuring out how best to take you down but then the whispers about you and Cullen began and I knew the best way to proceed. When the date auction presented itself I knew that was the way to go about it; I could kill two birds with one stone. I had no problem securing Edward in as a date, especially with my benefactor 's help behind the scenes; he wanted to see the two of you torn apart even more than I did. Then it was just a matter of acting. You're _so_ gullible Bella – I couldn't believe that just being in Edward's room and having his shirt on was all it took to make you believe we had slept together. And Cullen, such a boy scout, ready to come to anyone's aide at a moment's notice. Jesus, you believed what I told you, hook, line and sinker too. What the hell is wrong with both of you? I guess you're bond wasn't as strong as you tried to make everyone believe it was," she commented, with a faint cruel smile.

I felt my fists balls up and my breath pick up. Edward pulled me closer and started playing with my hair again. I wasn't sure who he was trying to comfort: me or himself. His body had become tenser as her story progressed and his breathing was steady and even- something he did to calm himself down. This had been an intricate plot from the get go and he was not happy about that.

She took a sip of water from the bottle she was holding onto and relaxed into a large chair facing us; she was getting comfortable. "Then it was just a matter of keeping the two of you apart and throwing you off our trail. I told him the Roofie thing wasn't going to help the situation but he just didn't want to listen. I mean it didn't really bother me drugging you but I just didn't see how that was going to help matters. I knew they'd try to pin it on me in the end but they couldn't make it stick without incriminating themselves either so I wasn't too worried," she continued but the rest had kinda turned into white noise.

At this point I knew _exactly_ who she was talking about and I was seeing red, literally. I couldn't see anything at all; I was blinded by my rage. I couldn't even think I was so mad. I now fully believed the defense people used when they claimed they didn't remember whatever heinous crime they did because it was in the heat of passion or overwhelmed with hatred and blacked out. _He_ had done all of this – that fucker was truly insane. He had gone _way_ over the line. I always had my suspicions that he had been involved with the Roofie incident but I could never back those claims up, especially since he was drugged himself. At this point I was so mad I was shaking.

"Just to confirm that we're all on the same page, you're saying Jake did all of this," Edward said through gritted teeth.

This brought me back to the matter at hand and what was going on. I was still fuming but I had somehow compartmentalized it so that I could separate my hatred for Jacob and my concern for Edward because he was furious and I didn't want him flying off the handle. I saw the hand that was not interlaced with my fingers balled up so tight his knuckles had turning white. He was trying to remain as composed as he could but it wasn't working. "Jake was the one who convinced you to do this? Tried to tear us apart? Fucking _drugged_ Bella?" he yelled, totally enraged now.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you," she said, that damn grin still plastered across her face.

Now I was the one holding him close and trying to calm him down but it didn't seem to be working. He was livid and I didn't know how to help. I wasn't sure what exactly he was going to do but I knew it wasn't going to be good. All I knew right now was that I needed to get him out of this room immediately.

**so... what did you all think? let me know! you know how i love hearing for all of you so. this was a tough chapter for me to get out for some reason so i hope you all liked it and it lived up to what you all were hoping for.**

**the story is winding down, probably 2-3 more chapters at most, so the posts might take a little longer than expected to get up. or i might have a wave of inspiration and get everything up in a month (though i think that is highly doubtful, lol)**

**the next chapter will be edward's and he's out for blood. a showdown between jake and edward is brewing...**

**in case you all aren't familiar with the song from the title - it'll be on my profile page**


	39. Turning of the Tides

**HAPPY 4TH everyone! hope everyone is having a nice holiday and day off - i know i am! :)**

**let me start off with apologizing yet again - i know i must sound like a broken record. there has been so much going on that i've been barely able to up. so i must humbly apologize for taking so long to get this chapter up. i've already started work on the next chapter (because it was supposed to initially all be one chapter but it would have been too long). i hope that it won't take me as long to get the next one up. i've tried something new for this chapter so please bare with me if it doesn't work or you all hate it. i was a little worried about this one. it's 2 diff POVs in the same chapter, so we'll see...**

**thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story and reviewed - it means a lot. it really really does.**

**also, big shout out to pennylaine - LUV YOU GIRL!**

EPOV

I sat at the table twisting a napkin around in my hand; I needed to do something to at least _attempt_ to distract myself from what Bella was about to do. My distraction method wasn't working too well, though. Within a couple minutes the napkin had disintegrated into nothing but wispy scraps. This napkin had fared much better than the first five before it – those had just been angrily ripped to shreds within seconds.

Bella kept placing her hand over mine every couple of minutes, trying to calm me down and limit napkin carnage. I peeked down at the pile in front of me – I _had_ made quite a mess and was no calmer. I stopped the moment Bella's hand was on mine but picked up right where I left off when she moved it. She silently frowned every time I started up again. And this was how the next 45 minutes went as she silently pondered how best to make that stupid phone call. Eventually, she moved the napkin holder as far away as she could push it without getting up. Unfortunately for her, my arms were much, much longer than hers.

"Can you just stop!" she finally snapped at me, yanking my latest napkin out of my hand.

"Just make the fucking call already!" I snapped right back, reaching over her and taking a new napkin from the holder smugly.

We glared at each other for a minute - both of us were on edge. We knew we were taking our anger and frustrations out on each other but couldn't help it. I had to admit that she was doing _far_ better than I at keeping her emotions under control. She, on the whole, had been fairly composed and was mostly her typical self since we had found out who was really behind all of this. I, on the other hand, had been snippier and moodier than ever. Nothing, including Bella, could put me in a good mood. No, moodier wasn't exactly the right phrase. My emotions changed at the drop of a hat: ranging from being upset over the whole situation to utterly furious with Jacob to disappointment in myself for not figuring out what was really going on. I had been going through more mood swings than Esme did when she was pregnant with Riley, and that said a lot… Needless to say, I hadn't been a pleasant person to be around this past week. I had _no_ idea how Bella put up with me.

And the thing that was _really_ driving me crazy was that I should have known. I should have _known_ that Jake was behind this. It was his typical MO: the manipulation, the deception, using others as pawns in his little game so not to reveal himself and for them to take all the heat. Yes, this was all _classic_ Jake. How many times had I seen him do this before and I still didn't put two and two together?

Maybe it was because I never thought that he would do something like this to Bella - or maybe I didn't want to think he would... don't ask me why. He seemed to think of her differently, to treat her better than all the other girls, but that didn't say much; just remembering her name was a huge step for him. I mean I had never heard Jake ever use the word girlfriend before but he seemed to use it freely in regards to her. But there was always this undercurrent of Bella being more of a possession to him than anything else - _that_ should have been a clue. Jake always felt like the end justified the means: as long as he ended up with what he wanted, nothing and no one else mattered. All the turmoil, aggravation, and mental duress that he put her through these past seven months... That was perfectly fine by him because it was to get what _he_ wanted - what _he_ thought was supposed to be. Everything was _all_ about him: that selfish prick. In the end, the person he supposedly cared so much about was the one person he treated the worst - emotionally and physically. And the fact that he even _thought_ about hitting her, or at the very least, putting her in a situation where she felt uncomfortable and worried about what he might do to her, made me see red. I couldn't even think straight when I let myself think about _that_.

I could maybe understand him getting upset and saying some hurtful things but _nothing_ more than that. The fact that he had _allowed_ himself to get to the point; where Bella thought he was going to hit her and actually left bruises on her arms that lasted for over a week... that was _utterly_ unacceptable. Guilt overwhelmed me again. I had to close my eyes and swallow down the bile that had risen up in my throat. Just thinking about that day, Bella being put in that situation, with only a hallway and a door separating us and me doing absolutely _nothing_, made me sick to my stomach. I even went to dinner with him that night… If I had just gone into Jake's room a minute earlier everything could have been avoided. This was one of the things that had been keeping me up at night. To say that I was beating myself up over this since I found out was an understatement.

I felt Bella's hand on mine again, bringing me back to the present. I looked down at the table - my pile of scraps had grown substantially. I must have been doing it subconsciously now. I shot her a sheepish smile causing her to giggle. At least I did _something_ right, adding some much needed levity to this situation. We both had been so sullen this past week and were barely speaking. There was a palatable tension in the air; that laugh was just the thing we needed, especially with the phone call that needed to be made.

I glanced over at Bella as she carefully watched me - _she_ was worried about _me_ - which wasn't right. She was about to make the phone call to Jake to get him back here, which she was dreading and I was just adding to her stress. What the fuck was wrong with me? I needed to snap out of this and get out of my head. I needed to be there for her – it shouldn't be the other way round. I could go back to beating myself up later, after the call was made and once I was back in the solitude of my room, but right now I had to man up for Bella. I needed to be there to support her and be the person she could lean on if she needed it. I took her hand in mine shifting my full attention to her.

"Should I be worried about my hand being torn apart into tiny little pieces too?" she joked with raised eyebrows.

"Hilarious…" I dryly replied, giving her a chaste kiss. "Make the phone call so you can just be done with it. Making this call is going to be the hardest part of the whole thing, having to pretend like everything is good between the two of you. Once you're done with this, it's all downhill from here," I reassured her, giving her the best supportive smile I could come up with.

She just stared at me, pouting: I knew she didn't want to do this but this whole thing was her idea. I would have been fine if she just dropped it and never spoke to Jake again. In fact, I would have preferred that since I had my _own_ idea of what to do with Jacob Black... If she didn't do anything, though, I knew that, eventually, she would look back on this with regret. So I would go along with whatever Bella wanted, whatever she needed - _this time_ I would be there for her.

I picked up the phone and held it out to her. "I'll sit right here with you for however long it takes until you to feel ready to make that call, even if that means we're still here at 5 o'clock in the morning," I assured her, hoping that made her feel better.

"What if you have to go to the bathroom?" she asked me without even a hint of a smile.

I tried to keep it together and act just serious as she was but I couldn't help the small laugh that escaped my lips. It was moments like this that made her even more adorable. "Then I'll just have to hold it," I replied, holding back a smile.

She grinned ever so slightly and then rested her head gently on my shoulder. "Well, what if I have to go to…" she began.

That question would have just been the beginning of a nervous rambling which would have been another delay tactic if I let her. Instead I tilted my head down, kissing her temple before bringing my head to hers. "I'll wait patiently by the door: how does that sound? But staling isn't going to make this go away or make this call any easier, it's just going to make you even more stressed. I suppose _I_ could make the call if you really wanted me to," I told her with a mischievous grin.

Any hint of a smile or softness that was on her face before was now gone. She _did not, _under any circumstances, want Jake and me to have contact with each other for any reason. The thought of that gave her anxiety and almost made her brake out in hives once when she overheard me talking to Jazz and Em. She knew I was itching for any reason to confront Jake on my own and didn't know what I would do if I was around him. She was worried about the outcome and what might happen to me; which I didn't understand at all.

"Just make it fast, like taking off a Band-Aid – it sucks for that second but then you're done with it," I suggested with a half smile.

She turned her head up so that we could look at each other. I could tell by her expression that she wasn't buying into the Band-Aid idea.

A new approach was needed, since reason didn't seem to be working. "Besides, my ass is falling asleep, so _it_ would really appreciate it if you could hurry up," I joked, hoping that humor would finally get to her. And it did, I even managed to get a real smile out of her.

"Fine," she rolled her eyes, snatching the phone from my hand before sitting up in her seat. "But I'm only doing this for your ass, since it's such a nice ass. _ And_ we're getting froyo after this," she said resolutely and began dialing the number.

JPOV

The phone was ringing yet again. I thought I had put that thing on vibrate. Whatever, it wasn't bothering _me_. The blonde straddled over me and kissing my neck didn't have those same sentiments, though: with every ring she let out an increasingly loud, exacerbated sigh. It was probably just my dad, again, and there was no reason to interrupt the guarantee of sex just for him.

I still pulled out my phone anyway, giving it a quick glace just to confirm that it was no one important. As expected, it was just dad. I didn't know what his deal was but he had been blowing me up for the last couple of days constantly. I had asked my crew if they knew anything or thought something was up but everyone said it was business as usual. There had to be _some_ reason for the constant calls, though, and I doubted it was just because he missed me... Regardless, he could leave me a message. I hit ignore, sending him directly to voicemail, and slid the phone onto my nightstand – focusing my attention back to the blonde.

She was from my Econ class and always sat near me. We hadn't really spoken much before but I'd seen her at a lot of the same parties and classes throughout the year. Today, I decided to make my move since I was bored and had nothing else going on. She was just something to pass the time. I thought about it - I wasn't sure what her name was. Maybe Samantha or Sarah; it was something in the S family. I gave it some more thought but gave up after a minute. It wasn't like her name really mattered – I probably wouldn't speak to her again after this but I'd play that one by ear. Maybe she'd be a great lay.

I moved my hand under her shirt and swiftly unclasped her bra. I had already worked the straps off her shoulders so the unclasping was the final step before the bra just fell off. I felt the poke her erect nipples against my bare chest through her thin tank top from the cool air from my AC. She moved her head from my neck, smiling at me for a moment, before going for the line of coke on my dresser. She quickly sniffed it, not even offering me a hit, and then crushed her lips back against mine. All girls were the same: give them a couple lines and some shots and they'd do just about anything. She paused for a second, peeling off her shirt and wanting me to take the sight of her in, before bringing her lips down to mine. I gave her a small smile; her tits weren't bad, especially for the money her parents paid for them, but they were nothing to write home about. I had _definitely_ been with better.

I continued kissing her; sliding my hands down her bare back until they were underneath her short demin skirt so I could cup her ass. She moaned into my mouth, spurring me to go on. I yanked her thong off, breaking it in the process, which caused her to yelp excitedly again. As I hiked her skirt up further my phone started going off again, rattling from the nightstand. She sighed loudly, breaking off our kiss and trying to pull away but I brought her back to me instantly. I moved my head and shifted her slightly so that she was now kissing the other side of my neck and facing the wall so that I could check my phone again without her noticing. The phone lit up with Bella's name and I didn't hesitate picking up for a second.

"Hey," I answered into the phone.

"Hi," she replied coolly back.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" I asked with a large grin. Bella never could stay away for too long.

"_Seriously_?" the blonde griped; clearly appalled that I answered the phone.

I reached down, grabbing her shirt and bra, and tossed them at her. "You can go now," I told her dismissively.

She just stared at me with an equal mix of furry and shock. I couldn't tell if she was so stunned that she couldn't move or if she was just too high.

"Is someone else there?" Bella asked.

"No one important; besides they're leaving," I answered.

This seemed to get the blonde moving. She gathered up the rest of her shit, loudly mumbling obscenities as she made her way towards the door. She finally left with one, very loud, door slam which made my roommate's mirror come crashing down off the wall. I tensed up at all the noise – I hadn't expected such force from the pocket sized blonde.

"Are you sure…" Bella began.

"Its fine," I replied, cutting her off. "So what's up?" I continued, relaxing into my bed.

"The police just called me. They said they had a lead in who Roofied us," she stated and took a long breath. "They said they talked to my parents first, earlier in the week. Did you hear from them yet?"

There had been a break in the case? Why hadn't I heard about this? Why hadn't anyone _told_ me about this? I could feel my temper starting to flare up, trying to get the better of me. What the fuck were those assholes doing if they didn't even know the police had made a break in the case? Was my crew really _that_ incompetent? Maybe that was why dad had been trying to call me incessantly for the past couple of days…

"Nope; haven't heard a thing," I replied, shifting in my bed. I was getting uneasy and pissed off, which wasn't a good combination.

I tried to calm myself down: nothing could be traced back to me unless that _bitch_ Victoria said something to the authorities. If that was the case it was just her word against mine- it was all hearsay. In those types of cases nothing ever got resolved because people don't know who to believe. Worst case scenario, that's what Jarred was there for since his dad basically oversaw the police force - something could always be done with the evidence.

"Well, they want to speak with both of us in person. Can you be here by the weekend or do you have something going on?" she asked.

"Why Bells, are you asking me on a date? You know you didn't have to go to such extreme measures just to get me back in Forks – you could have just asked," I replied with a grin. "What should I wear; is this a formal occasion?"

She let out a frustrated groan. "Believe me, I already asked if we could do this over the phone via conference call or video chat but, _sadly_, they said no. They need us to make an in-person statement. I just want this over and done with – then you can go back to school far, _far_, away from me," she said with a definite edge to her voice.

I heard something muttered on her end of the phone but couldn't make out what. All I definitely knew was that it was a guy's voice. Instantly, I felt jealousy surge through me body. I needed to know who the fuck was with my Bella.

"Is someone with you? Is it Edward?" I pressed, my voice rising.

"Calm down, no one's here. But even if they were, it would be none of your concern," she spat back.

Well that did it; there was no way I was going to stay calm now. "The hell it isn't," I shot back, raising my voice again.

"How many times do we need to have this conversation: you, _do not_, dictate what I do or who I hang out with!" she furiously yelled. "Maybe if you _listened_ to what I've been telling you, and what I have to tell you _again_, and stopped fucking yelling at me…" she began but cut herself off to take a deep breath.

"Jacob," she continued on her exhale, in a much calmer tone, "if we are going to have any sort of relationship you can't act like you own me; that I'm some kind of possession of yours." She paused again for another breath. "_Friends_ do not treat each other this way; do we have an understanding?"

She was finally silent, waiting for my response. This last sentence seemed exceedingly difficult for her to get out but she somehow managed.

"Bella, when are you finally going to accept that we aren't friends but much more than that? We've never been 'just friends'," I told her, as if this was some new revelation.

We both knew we were supposed to be together; that in the end we _would_ end up together – so why the hell did she have to fight it so much? The more she fought us, the tougher I had to be on her so that she would realize what we have. When was she going to finally get it through her thick head?

There was another long silence on her end.

"What is this really about – Edward? That you guys have some sort of _magical connection_…" I said sarcastically with a mocking laugh.

"This has nothing to do with him," she answered back quickly – too quickly.

What _was_ going on with them? They had been together for a while now but it couldn't be anything serious; I refused to believe that. It was just something she knew would piss me off. Bella always made sure to parade their "relationship" around me: making sure all of my friends saw them together, knowing full well that they'd turn around and tell me. She loved making me jealous and she'd done a damn good job of doing that. But their little dalliance needed to be squashed _now_. And, _apparently_, I was the only one who could so this: everyone else I gave this task to had failed miserably.

"What exactly is going on with the two of you?" I asked, suspicion and anger creeping into my voice. I was trying to stay composed so that things wouldn't get out of hand.

"That's none of your fucking business," she stated point blankly.

Well that response didn't help the situation; composure was no longer an issue. "What you do _is_ my business," I told her, not even bothering to restrain myself from yelling.

She cut me off now and started yelling louder than I think I had ever heard her before. "What did I _just_ tell you 30 seconds ago? See, _this_ is your problem: it's always _been_ your problem. You don't listen! How can I make this anymore clearer jackass? Let me repeat myself _AGAIN_: you, do not, own, me," she screamed, punctuating every word in that last sentence. "Who the fuck do you think you are trying to order me around and thinking that it's okay to do so… that you have some sort of jurisdiction over my life!" she shrieked, her voice going up eight octaves.

I had heard all this crap before and _wasn't_ in the mood. My head was throbbing because I was so angry and Bella's screeching wasn't helping. I placed the phone on my nightstand while I popped a couple Vicodins. If she was going to keep going on and on about this, which would just make me angrier, I needed to take something to drown her out so that I could calm down. I had a hot temper and she sure knew how to push my fucking buttons. And the last thing I needed to do right now was to punch the wall or my, unassuming, roommate's face when he walked in.

It had been a solid five minutes and Bella was still loudly ranting. The pills had begun to kick in, though, so I just felt an overall numbness. With each second the drugs took a greater hold on me my anger faded; in fact, I didn't really care what she said or how long she rambled on now. The only issue was the shrillness of her voice - that was getting annoying and needed to stop.

"Are you done now – got that all out of your system?" I asked, closing my eyes and laying down.

There was just silence.

"Bella?" I asked, opening my eyes and looking at my phone to make sure she was still on the line.

"Are you coming or not?" she asked flatly. She was still pissed.

"Meet me at the airport?" I suggested, sitting up against the back of my bed. "I know how we are both so fond of reunions," I said with a chuckle.

I closed my eyes again and grinned, thinking about our most recent reunion last July, when we both got back from summer vacation with our families and before that fucker Edward came into the picture. That limo ride certainly was memorable for everyone – including the driver. It wasn't my fault that the privacy partition wasn't sound proof.

I heard grumbling on her side of the phone. "Just let me know when you're getting in and we'll figure something out," she said through gritted teeth.

"See you Friday," I told her and then heard the phone go dead. She had hung up on me. Whatever, I wasn't really in the mood to deal with her bitchy attitude at the moment anyway.

I felt my eyes getting heavier. The pills were making me sleepy – the combination of Vicodin and scotch must have sped this up. Before submitting to the drowsiness that was overtaking me, I sent a text to dad and his people telling them I'd need the plane to get home. I needed to make sure one of my sisters wasn't already using it – jetting off to wherever the fuck they went all the time.

I laid back on my bed and relaxed, ready for sleep to take me. But the idea of sending just one more text was just too tempting to pass up. I held my phone up and began typing away.

_See you soon…_

The flight home had been rough: lots of unexpected turbulence and calls from dad that I was dodging. Eventually, I'd have to pick up; there were only so many excuses I could tell the flight attendants which were plausible. I'd used the sleeping excuse until Chicago and then faked a headache for a couple more hours but they were starting to catch on. Besides, I was pretty sure dear old dad was paying them a lot of money to keep harassing me until I finally answered. Billy Black _always_ got what his way, especially when it came to his family; just one of the benefits of holding the purse strings… damn it. Soon enough, though, I'd be on my own and with more money than him.

The flight attendant came by again. "It's him once more; what excuse would you like me to give this time?" he asked with a snippy attitude.

This was just one more control factor dad implemented. He had stocked the plane, exclusively, with males on board; there wasn't even one female. At least with a female flight attendant I had a fairly good shot of distracting her and avoiding dad for the entire flight but not this time round...

"I'll take the call I suppose," I sneered. He thrust the phone over and stomped towards the front of the plane. What was with this guy? What a fucking tool. "Hello," I muttered, unenthusiastically.

"So you _finally_ pick up – not trying to avoid my calls there are you?" he chuckled knowingly.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not; I've just had a lot of things going on. You know finals are coming up, cramming and all," I explained.

"Sure," he replied, not believing me at all. I had never been a studier; it wasn't that I was stupid, I just didn't want to waste my time with studying. I cruised through school and he knew that. "When are you getting in? Are there any delays?"

"You would know better than me – you've probably been getting updates every 15 minutes. I'm just the cargo; they don't tell me anything," I stated, glancing over at the flight attendants.

"Oh Jake," he exhaled but didn't deny my claim. We both knew that I was just something that had to be on board, like luggage, and was generally treated that way. "You're about five minutes from landing," he told me. "You _are_ coming directly home right?"

"I'm not sure; I was going to play it by ear. Bella said to meet up," I lied; I had no intention of actually heading home.

"Jake I think it's best if you just come home," he said, authoritatively.

I _hated_ it when he told me what to do and I bucked against it every chance I could. I wouldn't have minded going directly home after my flight but now I would go out just to spite him.

"I'll see. There are some other things that I've got to do as well, so if my plans with Bella fall through I'll probably still go…" I replied.

He cut me off, growing impatient. "You _will_ come straight home after you get off that plane – there things we need to discuss," he ordered.

I brushed him off. "There's nothing that is all that pressing, believe me," I told him.

He scoffed at this. _ "Believe you_? Are you joking? The police are involved, they've been calling the house and asking for you, asking me…," he stated but cut himself off. "Obviously there are things going on. So, _yes_, Jacob we need to talk. Maybe if you had picked up your phone once and a while when I called, you might know how bad of a situation you're in. Jake, I'm not fucking around - get your ass home immediately or there _will_ be consequences," he said ominously, hanging up on me.

Consequences? What the hell did that mean – he was going to take away my cell phone or my credit card? Ha! He'd tried to use the "consequences" line on me before and every time it turned out to be hollow threats - nothing ever happened.

At that moment we touched down into the private airport in Port Angeles. Apparently, that had been a five minute phone call; that might have been the longest call I think I had, had with him ever. I turned on my cell, waiting for it to boot up so I could check my messages. There were a bunch of new texts in my inbox but there was only one name I searched for: Bella's. She only wrote me one, brief text asking if I had landed. I made my way out of the plane and into the car while texting her back.

_Here, meet me at my house in like 2 hrs?_

Since getting home only took 20 minutes, two hours of driving around and handling some business would give me more than enough time to make the point clear to dad that he couldn't control _everything_ I did. I was still acquiescing to his demands but in my own way. _And_ I could kill two birds with one stone: get dad off my back and still see Bells by having her come over. He just said I had to be home and to talk to him, he never said other people couldn't be present.

The driver started up the car, not even bothering to ask me where to – yet another person dad had in his pocket. "Any chance I can convince you to take me anywhere else?" I asked. "I'll double whatever he's paying you."

"Not a chance in hell," the driver responded.

That was usually the answer I got when I came up against my dad. People respected, or feared, him too much to go against his will. Besides, people usually looked at me like the black sheep of the family. I was the fuck up on the Black family name, not quite living up to my "potential". This was partially the reason people didn't, necessarily, go out of their way to help me out. They thought that whatever dad was doing was for my own good, not seeing him for the controlling ass he was. That wouldn't always to be the case though, in time they'd see that I was right all along. For now, there were still some ways of going around dad's system which I had picked up over the years.

"Okay, that's fine," I stated nonchalantly, "would you mind making a slight detour on your way home, though? I'm starving and had a huge craving for some curly fries. I know I won't be able to order any in since dad's been on that huge health kick. I slept through the flight and by the time I woke up we were already descending so I couldn't get anything to eat," I asked innocently enough.

I saw the driver eyeing me, questioning if hunger was my real intention. I had to give it to the driver that he wasn't a _complete_ moron; I probably wouldn't believe me either.

"There's a Jack in the Box close right by the exit of the airport - that would be good enough and would tie me over. It wouldn't even be out of the way," I continued.

He considered the suggestion but still said nothing.

"How would an extra $500 sound, for not even going out of your way? You can see it from the road now, on the right hand side. I'll even be done before we get home so there won't be any evidence; he'll never know," I told him, holding out the cash. My hand rested against the seat in front for a couple seconds before he finally took it and started moving into the right hand lane to exit.

"We're going through the drive-thru, though," he instructed, looking at me and locking the door, "and no funny business."

"I wouldn't dream of it," I replied, throwing my hands up briefly.

This guy didn't trust me for a second and rightly so. As soon as the car stopped I had every intention of making a break for it. I needed to unlock my door first, carefully and quietly. I doubted the child locks were on so I should be in the clear - rookie mistake: if you were trying to thwart an escape attempt, you _always_ put the child locks on. I slowly moved my hand off my lap and reached over to the door handle, since I was sitting in the middle seat. I silently slipped the lock button into the unlocked position trying to minimize the clicking noise from the lock. I glanced to the rearview mirror to check if the driver was watching but he was just looking straight ahead. I was good to go. I had a good 30 years on this guy so when I made a break for it there wouldn't be any issue of him being able to chase me down. I'd run until I was far enough away and then have Paul get me from wherever I ended up. This involved much more physicality than my usual plans but whatever worked, right?

We began to turn into Jack in the Box when a very loud, high pitched frequency filled the car – it sounded like it was coming from the radio. Both the driver and I moved to cover our ears, startled by the intensity of the noise. The car kept moving forward before coming to an abrupt and jarring stop: throwing me to the left side of the car and then whipping me back to the right corner of the car hitting the window and then the neck rest. Initially, I thought this commotion was due to the driver finally getting a hold of the car but I was wrong: we had run into another car.

I looked around to see what had happened. The noise from the radio was now gone. There was just silence and then all the airbags went off – the side airbag exploded into the right side of my body. I didn't think we had been hit that hard for the airbags to have been necessary but I guess town cars were temperamental.

I tried to hit the airbag away so I could look myself over, the part I could see anyway. I didn't look that banged up and I wasn't bleeding, which was good. The only reason I was thrown about the car so much was because I wasn't wearing a seat belt; that would teach me for the future. I slowly moved my head back and forth and then, one by one, moved my limbs to see if anything felt off. My head was buzzing a little but after crashing, hard, against the window. Luckily, that was the only thing that seemed to be off.

"You okay?" I asked the driver. "What the fuck just happened?"

He tried to push the airbags out of his way before answering – those things took up the majority of the front seat; I could barely see him. "I think so… maybe tweaked something but I won't be able to tell until I get away from all these damn airbags," he muttered. He pushed down the airbags some more, which allowed him to turn slightly towards me, "I'm so sorry Mr. Black – I don't know what happened. That noise has never happened before: something must be going on with the radio signal or the lines got crossed," he tried explaining. "I didn't mean to go forward; I thought I was hitting the breaks."

I didn't bother responding. Logically, I knew he didn't do this deliberately but I was too pissed off about the situation to be rational. I tried to open the door handle, to check out the rest of the scene, but it didn't open. I looked out the darkly tinted window; it looked like the other car was an SUV so it shouldn't have been in that bad of shape. I tried the door handle again but still nothing - it must have been stuck. Finally, after the fourth time of banging my body into the car door, which hurt more than it should have, and tugging on the handle the damn thing opened.

I stumbled out of the car and surveyed the damage. The front of the car had some superficial damage, a few scratches which could have been there from before the accident, but mostly looked untouched. All the real damage had been done towards the back of the car, by me. My door, on the left hand side, and the trunk area had caved in a bit, looking like they had taken a hit. I walked around to the other side of the car, the side I was initially sitting closer to, which hadn't been touched. Thankfully I was closer to that side of the car or I might have really been hurt. The driver had made his way out of the car by this point and sounded like he was discussing insurance information with the driver of the other car.

The voice – no voices, plural – sounded familiar but I couldn't quite put my finger on who they were. Had we hit someone I knew? I listed to the voices some more as I walked to over to the driver's side of the SUV. Before making it all the way around to where the others were I stopped dead in my tracks; I didn't need to go any further to know who we had run into.

**so what did you all think? did the double POV work? i wanted to give a bit of Jake's perspective and this may or may not be the last glimmer you have into his mind. the next chapter, as i said before, was supposed to be all one chapter, so i haven't quite worked out if his POV will be included in the next chappie again. i would love to hear your thoughts and opinions! **

**so the showdown has yet to occur... stay tuned for that ;)**


	40. HAM

**greetings from abroad! i'm writing you from greece, its the tailend of a month long stint here which partially explains for the delayed chapter upload (that and this chapter has taken a lot out of me. it was a toughie) i hope you can forgive me for the long delay! i appologize!**

**also, a huge efharisto (thank you in greek) to everyone who's stuck with this story and has ever commented, pmed, reviewed or anything else. it means the world to me and i can never express how much i enjoy hearing from you guys :)**

**there are 2 songs which were the inspiration to this chapter - they're listed below and the links will be on my homepage incase you're unfamilar or just want to listen to them on repeat again anf again, like me**

**enjoy!**

EPOV

"No fucking way," Jake yelled, a shocked expression plastered across his face.

I suppressed the grin that wanted to glue itself to my face; this had worked out _much_ better than anticipated. This was the first real sense of satisfaction I had felt since this whole fiasco started. And as long as things went according to plan, this content and satisfied feeling would continue. I knew this was a stupid plan, where people could, potentially, get seriously hurt but no one did; well, not yet. I was well aware that I wasn't in the clear yet; things could turn in the blink of an eye… especially when they involved Jake.

I had hoped Jake would have driven himself home from the airport so it would have just been the two of us in case something did go wrong. Unfortunately, that didn't pan out but there was a silver lining: since there were witnesses, this "accident" would seem more believeable as an unfortunate coincidence rather than a premeditated action.

A couple days back, Bella confirmed - via Billy - that a car was picking Jake up at the airport. As I made arrangements for Jake's driver to be swapped out with one of my own, a stuntman James recommended from Seattle, Jasper happened to overhear me. He refused to let me go alone to meet up with Jake, threatening to tell everyone what I was up to if I didn't take him along. So a random stunt man and my brother were added to the possible injury list - adding to my stress level.

But all my worrying had been for nothing: everyone was, or at least _seemed,_ perfectly fine! Of course, I would have dad check everyone out, including Jake to keep up with the accident pretense, but that would be later.

"This was _no_ accident; you did this on purpose!" Jake continued shouting as he barreled towards me.

"How the hell would this be on purpose?" Jasper questioned. He stood between us, acting as a referee. "This was just a _very_ unfortunate coincidence. We didn't even know you were in town. We were on our way to pick up my mom's car from the dealership, hence the rental," he replied in his usual smart ass manner motioning to the car.

"Bullshit!" Jake yelled and reached out for me again. Jazz pushed him back once more.

My phone went off again in my pocket. Bella had been calling me non-stop for the last 20 minutes. She had no idea about this and I intended to keep it that way as long as I could. I had worked all the details out so everything would seem very coincidental – just like it would to Jake. I doubted that she buy any of that, though. I would be in trouble regardless. Even if this had been a real accident, I still would have gotten yelled at. And if she knew the extent of this whole thing and how much I kept from her… I'd be totally screwed. She was one scary person when she wanted to be. For that reason, this needed to be kept secret until the very last minute.

I turned my attention back to Jake. "Calm down," I told him patronizingly, "if anyone should be upset, it should be me. You're the one who ran into us. But you don't see me going off on your driver, do you?"

"You did this _on purpose_," he accused again. "Just admit it." I was fairly sure he wasn't even listening to me at this point.

"Sir, how would he have done that?" Garrett, the driver, tried to reason with him. "He couldn't have controlled the radio signal."

Well, _normally_, I couldn't control the radio signal… But this time, that's exactly what I did – all thanks to Jasper. Back in New York, he had created a transmitter type device for a science project that interfered with radio waves and scrambled neighboring systems resulting in a buzzing noise. He had yet to use it in such close proximity to this many telephone wires, though, and wasn't exactly sure what the outcome would be. Hopefully it didn't shut anyone's power off for an extended period of time or really disrupt the airwaves... From what Garrett told us, though, all that seemed to happen was that an ear splittingly loud and high pitched noise came from the radio. His device had worked perfectly – that was actually the desired effect. Jasper was a genius; which was the reason he got into everywhere he applied, including MIT.

"The help needs to shut the hell up," Jake spat at Garrett. "I know you did this," he said, pointing his stubby, little finger and narrowing his eyes at me.

"Whatever," I sighed and began to walk away. "I don't need to listen to your accusations."

"Where the fuck do you think you're going? You can't just leave," he shouted, moving in front of me, which stopped me in my tracks. He was falling for this hook, line and sinker.

"The hell I can't. I already exchanged insurance information with your driver; that means I don't have any other business with you. I can go whenever I damn well please," I stated calmly, stepping around him and continuing towards the car.

Jake intercepted me again; this time shoving me against the side of the loaner Porchse Cayenne. His temper was beginning to get the better of him which was exactly what I wanted; this plan wouldn't work if Jake kept his cool. His face was contorted in anger and his nostrils flared – it wasn't the most attractive thing I'd ever seen.

"Jake, let me go before you do something stupid that you regret. You don't want to do this," I taunted before shoving him away so I could move.

"Oh I don't, do I?" he asked with a smirk. I anticipated his next move and tried to move out of the way but he was faster than I expected. He slammed me back down into the car, a lot harder that time. I landed right in the corner of the car with my lower back – that one was going to leave a mark. As much as I tried to hold it in and not show any sign of pain, a small wince escaped my mouth making him smile even wider.

"Seriously, this is just pathetic," I told him, slowly getting up from the car. "You've concocted this story about how I deliberately ran into your car just because you're upset that Bella and I are together and can't handle that. Two other people were involved in the accident as well, they don't seem to be agree with you; don't you see a problem with that?" I asked, moving completely away from the car. "Jake, I'm telling you this as a friend: grow the fuck up. It's almost been, what, like a year since you and she broke up – if you can even call what you guys had a relationship. From what I've heard she wasn't even that fond of you in the first place. Move on – cause she sure as hell has," I taunted, smiling back at him as his smug grin disappeared. I couldn't help but get in a couple more digs.

I braced myself for what was to come. I had hit a nerve. He wouldn't be able to control his temper and would start throwing punches soon. And as soon as the first punch was thrown I'd have every right to hit him back…which was _exactly_ what I was waiting for.

We were evenly matched even though Jake was bigger and taller than me. I had seen Jake in fights before; he usually won because of his size and the fact that he had a lot of force behind his punches. He was imposing but that was it. Jake's only tactic was to use his strength and wail on the person; he wasn't a smart fighter. I, on the other hand, was faster and exploited the other person's weaknesses which gave me the advantage – especially when it came to Jake. I knew his injuries and what would debilitate him.

I didn't have to wait long. Before I had a chance to take another breath Jake's fist came flying at me, hitting me straight in the mouth. It was a hard hit and I immediately tasted blood.

"I'd say three years together is a relationship," he shouted, before throwing another punch, this time near my eye. "What the fuck do you know about our relationship? We're meant to be together – not you two."

I was initially dazed, the impact of the hit disorienting me for a second. When I saw his fist coming in for a stomach shot, though, I snapped back to what was going on. Before his hand was able to connect with me I turned my body, angling myself so I could knock Jake to the ground once he left himself open. The intended stomach punch hit my side as I turned. He extended his arm, following through and leaving his entire right side open. I took my shot; slamming my shoulder into his right side which threw him to the floor. I knocked the wind out of him and his eyes glazed over as he stared up at me; the car crash might have given him a slight concussion which I hadn't considered. Oh well, maybe this would, literally, knock some sense into him.

Jake wasn't at his breaking point yet; the point where he wouldn't have any self control. He was quickly getting there, though. And when Jake got to that point, it would make Jasper and Garrett's presence worth the risk of being here: they could vouch for what happen when he finally lost it. I just needed to push Jake a little further.

"Jazz, let's go; we're done here," I said, not acknowledging Jake at all.

Jasper nodded his head and made his way to the passenger side of the car.

I turned my back to Jake, opening the car door. That's when I heard an enraged snarl as Jake got back up. Just leaving him there, without even a second glance, was what finally pushed Jake over the edge. I tried to prepare myself for his next move but wasn't exactly sure what that was.

"You're not done until _I_ say so," Jake growled and came flying at me.

"Edward watch out!" Jasper called out but not in enough time.

Before I had time to turn around Jake tackled me to the ground. As I fell, face first into the dirt, my body slammed into the opened car door. Thank god I tucked my head down or I would have cracked open my skull. I wasn't expecting to get slammed into the car door which gave him the upper hand. I couldn't breathe at all and my left side was throbbing; all I could think about was the pain.

"So you think you can just walk away and pussy out like that? _ You_ started this but _I'm_ gonna end it," Jake yelled, punching violently, with what felt like all his might, on my side and to my face. "You think Bella's with you because she _wants_ to be? I guess you don't know her as well as you think you do. She's trying to make _me_ jealous. That's all you've ever been to her - you're the one who means nothing to her, so stay the fuck out of our relationship!"

If he really thought this, he was more deliusional than I thought. Could he really think that this was the case? That _our_ relationship was just a ploy to make him jealous? He was seriously off his fucking rocker.

"And if you think you can just take her away and that I'd let you… I'll _never_ let her go; I'll never let you have her!" Jake continued screaming as he punched.

What he was saying about Bella made me come to _real_ quick. It was sending up all sorts of red flags: Jake wasn't just possessive and delusional, he sounded downright insane and dangerous. Now, this was _my_ trigger which set me off, more so than I was before. Before, I wanted Jake gone but now I was willing to do just about anything to keep him away from Bella for good – even if that meant letting him beat the crap out of me to prove how volatile and dangerous he really was.

At this point Jake had gotten some good hits in but, now, I wasn't feeling anything. Adrenaline was flowing and fury had taken over - I was solely running off of that. I had to think smart; if I just went off adrenaline I would lose this fight and I, _absolutely,_ refused to lose.

I thought of my next move as I let Jake get in a few more punches – I needed to look worse than him after the fight for this to be believable. If he came out looking worse than I did, Billy wouldn't believe just how dangerous Jake could be.

I still had dirt in my mouth from the fall. I turned my head so that I faced Jake and spat all of the dirt into his eyes. There wasn't much left since the majority had turned to mud in my mouth but there was enough that temporarily blinded him. He winced in pain and immediately reached up to wipe the dirt from his eyes which left him open and exposed. With this open window, I yanked my arms free from Jake's grasp and wrapped my legs around him without much of a struggle. I quickly rolled the two of us over, using momentum to pin Jake to the ground. I was now straddled on top of him. With my spin move, I somehow trapped Jake's arms under my legs so that he wouldn't be able to move them.

I put more of my weight on his right arm and side, knowing this would debiliate him since he had that shoulder injury a while back from lacrosse. It hadn't healed properly since Jake never followed through with his rehab or allowed himself to rest properly. Being in this position, I couldn't help but take a few cheap shots at his face – hitting him a couples times in the mouth so that we had matching injuries. I shifted my body, again; applying even more pressure to his right side as he squirmed around trying to get me off of him. He loudly grunted in pain as I applied more weight to the pressure point in his shoulder. Shortly thereafter I heard a small pop: his shoulder had dislocated. Jake shrieked in pain and started thrashing about. He threw me off of him with his left arm.

Dust flew everywhere as we rolled around, scrambling to gain the advantage over each other. Jasper and Garrett were yelling at us to stop; neither about to come close enough to get caught in the crossfire, though. Jake was tenacious. Even with a dislocated shoulder he kept coming at me, wildly swinging with his left; he looked like an enraged animal. He was able to weakly pin me down again and resumed punching wherever he could get in a hit. His precision and aim were crap, though, since the pain of his shoulder seemed to be taking over. Some of his punches made contact but with half as much force as the ones before since he wasn't left handed. I saw Jake getting up to kick me. I let him get up without interference so that he could get a couple of kicks in. Kicking a person when they're on the floor is a cheap shot and something that can only help my argument. It was going to hurt like hell but it was necessary.

When he tried to get a third kick in, I finally retaliated by kicking his left knee in, causing it to buckle. With this, he fell forward. I kicked him again: a hard and swift kick to his dislocated shoulder. He screamed in pain and grabbed at his shoulder. Jasper and Garrett moved in now, seeing an opening to safely end the fight. Jake and I saw this and knew we had one more chance to get a last hit in before they got a hold of us and dragged us to our respective corners. Jake swung for my face and missed, hitting me in the neck instead, while I aimed squarely for his nose. And _I_ didn't miss. His nose immediately started bleeding as Garrett wrangled him away – I might have even broken it.

"Get _off_ of me!" I growled in a gravelly voice at Jasper, fighting against him to get away. I was having a hard time talking and swallowing since I got hit in the throat.

"It's done," Jazz whispered, looking me in the eye for a good minute until he was sure I got the message. "You did what you came to do and made your point – it's time to go. We're already going to be running late as it is."

I continued struggling against him but could already feel myself starting to settle down, which seemed odd since the fight had just ended. My adrenaline was fading and I was slowly returning to my calmer and more rational state. Jasper's reassurance seemed to have been the facilitating factor in my adrenaline lessening, which was surprising. Maybe I just needed assurance that I had done the right thing; that I had pushed the line with Jake but hadn't gone over it.

I glanced over at Jake who was still seething and trying to get out of Garrett's hold. I was _positive_ that I looked worse than Jake but I had done more damage to him; all my bruising would go away in a week or so but he'd have to deal with rehab and possibly a plastic surgeon. Like I said, you fight smart – not just with brute strength.

We made eye contact; both Jake and I made one last futile attempt to get at each other which resulted in me getting shoved into the passenger side of the car by Jasper and Jake yelping loudly in pain.

Jasper watched me buckled up to make sure I didn't have any other ideas in mind. He wasn't about to risk me doing something stupid – correction, even stupider - if it could be helped. Once he was adequately convinced that I was going to stay put he made his way over to Jake. I saw the keys still in the ignition and turned the car on, so I could roll down the window to hear what was going on.

As Jazz approached, Jake made another weak attempt to get away from Garret and hit Jasper. It was pretty apparent, though, that Jake was tired and hurting – that he had lost his steam, especially for someone who wasn't me.

Jasper bent down and whispered something to Jake that I wasn't able to hear but made Jake's facial expression harden into a grimace. As Jazz walked back towards the car he said one final thing to Jake with a smirk. "You should probably get yourself to a doctor… I'm pretty sure you've got a concussion and you're pretty banged up," he added, getting into the car and driving off without a second glance.

"What'd you say back there?" I asked, curious.

"You okay? How ya feeling?" he replied, evading my question altogether.

I stared at him for a while, trying to will him into answering me, but didn't work. I sighed and finally answered his question. "I'm alright," I lied. My lip was throbbing; it was still bleeding a little and I had the distinct taste of blood in my mouth. The whole right side of my body felt like a sledgehammer had been taken to it – from where I had been slammed into the open car door and kicked.

Jasper opened his mouth, most likely object, when the phone rang. I felt my pocket: it wasn't mine. The phone then began to ring through the car. We looked to the GPS screen as Alice's name and number lit up the screen. The two of us glanced at each other, uncertain of what to do.

"What do you want me to do? Should I answer it?" he asked, his thumb poised over the answer button on the steering wheel.

"Maybe we shouldn't answer it and just let it go to voicemail?" I suggested as the ringing went on. "I don't know… what do you think?"

"I'm the one going over 100 right now, weaving in and out of cars, to not piss off _your_ girlfriend since we're running crazy late because of your little stunt: you make the decision," he quipped, keeping his eyes on the road.

I didn't give myself any time to think about it, just went on gut reaction alone. "Okay, answer it," I told him.

He pressed the button; there was no turning back now. "Hello?" Jasper answered uncertainly; neither of us was sure what to expect.

"Where the hell _are_ you guys? When are you two going to be here? Why isn't Edward picking up his phone? Do you know what time it is?" Bella asked, listing off questions rapid fire style.

"Well you're not Alice," Jasper stated, trying to add some levity.

"Thanks for pointing that out, Mr. fucking obvious," Bella fired back; she was not amused and definitely not in the mood. "Don't fuck with me: where _is_ he?"

"Hey," I said, jumping in and saving Jasper. "I'm sorry I haven't picked up, I didn't even know you were calling. My phone died and we were in the middle of nowhere – I didn't even know my phone had turned off until a couple minutes ago," I lied. "I just plugged it into the car adapter to charge now and saw you called. We're on our way now. We'll be there in less than 10 minutes."

She was silent. I knew her well enough to know that she was considering what I just said; seeing if she believed me or not. "Where were you..." she began when Alice cut her off.

"Bella come on; you need to finish getting ready. I told you they were on their way and you don't have time to play 20 questions," Alice called out in the background.

"Bye guys; love you Jazz!"

"Give me back the phone! Don't you dare…" both Bella and Alice said at the same time before the line went dead.

Jasper and I started laughing, adding a little levity to the car ride. The way those two interacted was always comical. One was always the rationale and sane one while the other was way overdramatic, and their roles in this partnership constantly changed. Laughing caused my side to throb even more; I couldn't help but wince. That fucking door had done a number on me – or Jake but I _really_ didn't want to admit that.

"So you're perfectly fine huh?" Jasper stated with a raised eyebrow.

"Shut up. Just make the call to Billy before we get to their house. You know all hell's going to break loose as soon as we walk through the door and Bella sees what happened," I told Jasper.

He gave me a hard look. "What is this _'we'_ you're talking about? _ You're_ the one who plotted this whole thing and took a beating – _I_ don't have anything to do with this," Jasper shot back.

"If you think you're going to get out of being yelled at on the technicality that you 'didn't actually do anything and that it was my plan', then you're a bigger idiot than Jake. They're _all_ going to ream you for either: a – not telling them what was planned, b – not trying to stop me, or c – both," I explained. "And Alice is _never_ letting this go."

He pursed his lips and said nothing, knowing I was right – which he hated.

"Just dial the damn number," he muttered, annoyed.

The phone started ringing. It only took a couple rings before Lucinda picked up. "Black residence," she answered cheerfully.

"Hi Lucinda, I dont know if you remeber me: this is Jasper Hale, Edward Cullen's brother, " he told her, pausing to allow her to make the connection on who he was.

"Oh yes, hello Jasper! How are you doing?" she asked in that same pleasant tone, knowing full well that this wasn't a social call. Jasper had never called their house, except once five years ago when Jake and I ended up in the ER due to a stupid dare.

"I'm doing well, thanks for asking. I hope you are well too," he said, about to continue when Lucinda cut him off.

"I am, I am. Thank you so much for asking dear – that's so nice of you! Now, what can I do for you? Jake isn't home yet, if that's who you were trying to reach, maybe try back in a couple hours or his cell phone perhaps?" she suggested.

"Oh that won't be necessary; I'm actually looking for Billy. Is he in?"

She paused; now she was sure she something was up, in case there had been any doubt in her mind before. "Yes, he's just in his office; let me bring him the phone," she said, the pleasantness still in her voice but with some concern seeped into it.

"Thank you. Also, I wanted to prepare you: Jake will be coming in fairly bruised up. There was an incident. I think he'll be alright but I wanted to give you a heads up," Jasper continued.

"Oh okay," she answered with a, now, shaky voice. Jake was like a son to her and she worried about him constantly; the Blacks weren't just a job to her, they were her family. "Thank you for the warning, I appreciate it. Is Edward alright?"

"He's pretty banged up right now but he should be fine too. Carlisle will look him over once we get home," Jasper explained.

There was another long pause; you could tell that she didn't know what else to say. "Tell Edward I'm sorry about this and that I hope he feels better soon. Here's Billy," she said.

"What is it Lu?" Billy asked in the distance. "I'm waiting on a call before Bella gets here."

"It's Jasper Hale, Edward's brother. Something has happened between the boys," she told Billy, unable to control the emotion in her voice.

"I'll take it," he told her, his voice hardening, just like any other concerned parents' when they hear something might have happened to their child. "Jasper?" he now said into the phone.

"I'm here; thanks for taking my call," Jasper stated.

"Of course – so what happened? I don't mean to rush you but Bella is due here soon and I'm expecting a business call any minute so I'm not sure how long I can stay on the line," Billy explained.

"I completely understand," Jazz answered. "I'll keep this quick then. The three of us and Jake's driver were involved in a car accident about 20 minutes ago. We were on our way to pick up my mom's car at the Porsche dealership when Jake was coming from the airport. Somehow we collided and when all of us came out of the car to check on the damage Jake freaked. He started accusing Edward of deliberately planning the accident, when we didn't even know when he was coming in – Bella refused to give us the details. Things were said by both of them and, eventually, punches were thrown. Both of them came out fairly beat up," Jake explained.

Billy sighed but I didn't sound like he was all that shocked. "Who threw the first punch," he questioned.

"Jake did, I think. There was a lot of dust flying at that point so I couldn't be positive but he was the one who got physical first, throwing Edward against the hood of the car. Jake's got some crazy notion that Edward is out to get him… he was saying a lot of things about Bella just to get a rise out of him," Jazz concluded.

"That's what I was worried about. I've never gotten the full story of what happened between the two of them but I know they've broken up and that Bella and Edward are together now. From what I've heard, they're quite serious," Billy commented.

"Yes, sir, they are. Jake won't accept the fact that they're together – he thinks it's a tactic Bella's using just to make him jealous. Jake seems like he's really about to lose it," Jasper interjected.

"That's what Bella's concerned about as well: why she was coming over, in fact," he paused, as if he was thinking about something. "Would you mind, or Edward rather, coming over so we call could discuss this in person? Would he be up for that?"

Jazz looked over at me to confirm. I nodded slowly, giving him the go ahead to answer. "We can be there in a couple minutes; we were on our way to the Brandon's and are just making our way into the gate," Jasper told him.

"Good; see you in a few," Billy replied before hanging up.

As they hung up Jasper pulled up to the security gate to the lucrative gated community. The guard waved us in, mouthing 'hello' to Jasper as we drove in. Amun, the security guard, didn't bother checking IDs or asking for names – he must be used to Jasper coming into the compound at all hours of the day or night.

"Just go straight to Jake's," I instructed. We were supposed to go to Alice's first to pick up Bella but I was revising that plan.

"Scared of B, I see… wise man. She's going to rip you a new one when she sees you," he commented through a half smile.

"No I'm not; I just think it would be prudent to get to Billy before she does, to lay a little groundwork. Besides, that's what we told him we were going to do. And I don't look that bad," I replied.

I didn't feel _that_ achy or sore, mostly I was just tired, but I refused to look at myself. I probably looked much worse than I felt. I had glimpsed my reflection in the mirror when I first got into the car; I didn't think I looked that bad. I had a busted lip that was swelling up and some bruising by my eye but that was it. It was only 15 minutes later; I couldn't have gotten that much worse…

Jasper glanced over at me, appraising my overall appearance. "You've seen better days, pretty boy. Who knows what your stomach and back look like… that can't be good. The fact that you're _covered_ in dirt doesn't help," he quipped, turning the car off and getting out.

As I got out of the car I made a deliberate effort to avoid all reflective surfaces, keeping my eyes glued to the floor. If I didn't see how badly banged up I was I could, honestly, say that things weren't really that bad. Getting out of the car did not help my aches and pains; I guess sitting still had kept that all at bay. But as long as I didn't see my reflection I could stay in denial.

"K, well I got you here, so I'm just going to head over to Alice's. Come over when you guys are all done," Jazz said, walking towards her house.

"I thought we already agreed that you were going to stay; you're as much of a guilty party in this as I am," I replied.

"No, _you_ thought it was a good idea that I stayed, _I_ never agreed to anything," he told me and continued walking.

"Well what will Billy think? If you don't, at least, escort me in he might think you were blowing this out of proportion. That you made a bigger deal out of this than necessary," I added.

"All he'll need to see is your face to realize I wasn't making a big deal out of this," he retorted.

"Come on," I pleaded with him one last time.

Jasper stopped walking and turned back toward me. "Coward," he laughed as he came back toward me and the front of their door. "Fine, I'll come with you. But just know that I know you want me here because you don't want to face Bella on your own – this has nothing to do with Billy."

That was true; I wasn't about to deny it. I'd hear plenty later tonight when all of this was done and it was just the two of us. Hopefully, I could play up the pity card and she'd take it easier on me... Yea right, she was going to be fuming. "That is neither here nor there. Would you want to face Alice?" I replied.

"That's different," he answered as he rang the door bell.

"How?"

"Cause Alice is way scarier," he answered totally straight faced as Lu opened the door.

"Oh my god," Lucinda exclaimed, clasping her hand over her mouth when she looked at me. "Ice, I need to get you ice. Go to the family room right away - make sure you get him to sit down," she ordered us.

"Told you," Jasper whispered as we went where she directed.

"I'll be down in just a minute boys; just finishing up my call," Billy called out.

"No problem; we're in the family room," I answered back. "Did you tell the girls that we came directly here?" I asked Jasper.

"I text them when we got here and just said we were running even later so we'd meet them here," he said.

"How did that go over?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Neither responded, as expected," he replied.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting boys," Billy said as he came into the room. "Hell….oh," he said stopping in his tracks when he saw me.

Did I really look that bad?

"Are you sure you're okay Edward? I think we should get you to your dad," he suggested looking worried.

"No, I'm okay. I'm fine really; it just looks worse than it really is – I'm not even sore," I told him.

"Are you really sure?" he asked again.

"I tried to convince him to see Carlisle first and then come here but he refused to listen to me. He thought speaking to you was more important," Jasper stated, making stuff up on the fly.

"Alright…,"Billy said skeptically. "Let's just get through this quickly then. I really want Carlisle to check you out as soon as possible. Jasper, you're driving right?" Billy asked. Jasper nodded. "So can you give me a little more details about what's been going on?"

"Basically, he won't stop harassing Bella. As Jasper told you over the phone, Jake refuses to accept that we're together and he's gone to some extreme measures to keep us apart. I'll let Bella get into that when she gets here, though- that's her story to tell. At this point, Jake seems like he's gone off the handle... I mean people don't usually get into fights over a minor fender bender. And the things he said about Bella tonight: they weren't rationale. I think he's using again which isn't helping matters," I explained.

Billy sighed and blinked hard for a minute. "I was afraid of that. He told me he wasn't using anymore but I had my suspicions. What exactly did he say about Bella?"

"He was yelling at me about how they were meant to be together and that he wouldn't let me have her: that he would never let her go. I mean it scared _me_ so if he said these things to Bella I could only imagine what her response would be. Honestly, he sounded like insane," I explained, not having to exaggerate at all about this.

Billy took this in. "What do you think Jasper?"

"I think he's got issues: anger issues for sure. I mean you don't go off on someone like he did, even if you're 100 percent positive that they did it deliberately. Edward could have gotten _seriously_ hurt – I mean he threw him into a car door and was kicking him when he was already hurting. I'm sorry Billy but you didn't see him, he looked like a wild animal. I mean I get falling for a girl and not being too thrilled when they start dating someone else but this goes far beyond that. He needs help - rehab and anger management. Maybe its just the drugs? In all honestly, I don't know how. Who knows how far Jake will take this," Jasper told him, playing his part to a tee. "Or who he'll explode on next."

"I agree with Jasper; rehab is the only option at this point. I mean, I don't even recognize Jake anymore. He's changed so much and not for better," I told them both honestly.

This Jake _wasn't_ the same guy I knew. Yes, Jake had always been an egotistical, condescending, self-absorbed ass but he had always been pretty happy-go-lucky -never really mean spirited or violent. Now, he was overly aggressive and irritable over anything. He would do anything to take down an obstacle in his way, including hurting the people he allegedly cared about. There were no boundaries that were off limits now. I didn't know how he became this person – it couldn't strictly be about Bella. But at this point I didn't care what his reasons were; he had done too much and gone too far. He made his bed and now he needed to sleep in it. That fucker needed to be as far away from us as possible.

A loud knock came from the door. "Hello? Lu? Billy?" Bella called out, not waiting for the door to be answered.

"In here Bella," Billy called out.

"Bella, mija, thank goodness. Take this to Edward in the family room now. I'll grab some bandages and be in, in a minute," she told her.

Jasper and I slunk down into the couch so that she wouldn't see us. From Billy's angle, he couldn't see Bella and she couldn't see him but we could see everything. The couch we were on was situated in front of the foyer which led directly into the family room.

"Bandages? Why does he need ice?" Bella questioned but Lucinda had already disappeared. She looked confused and concerned for a moment but it didn't take long until understanding and then fury took over. She glared at the couch. "So why, exactly, do you need ice?" she asked in a sickeningly sweet voice but through gritted teeth as she approached. She was trying to conceal her obvious ire by the tone of her voice.

We locked eyes as I watched from the couch, which only made me slide down into the couch even further. Yup, she was pissed. Bella avoided looking at the couch, going over to Billy and giving him a hug and kiss on the cheek first. Then she peered down at us and her face went white. "Oh my god," she whispered.

"It's not that bad," I told her.

"I'll give you three a minute. I'll grab some water for us and see if Lu needs any help," Billy said, excusing himself the room.

"What happened?" she demanded, her face going from white to red almost instantly. The shock of seeing me in my beaten state was now gone and her anger was back in full force.

"We got in a little…"

"It's really nothing to get worked up over; I'm fine..."Jasper and I said at the same time.

"OUT!" she hissed at Jasper and pointed towards the door. "I'll deal with you later." She looked like she was about ready to kill him.

Jasper shot out of his seat and rushed out the door. We wasn't about to stay any longer than he had to. Right now, I wished I had the option to leave too…

"What did you do?" she pressed, taking my face in her hand and appraising the damage. She crouched in front of me so that we were face to face.

"Why do you assume I did anything?" I, defensively, shot back trying to hold in how much her touch actually hurt. I was starting to really feel the aches and pains from the fight now and her yanking my face back and forth wasn't helping. There was no way in hell I was about to tell her that, though.

We were both trying to keep our voices down so that we weren't overheard. It would ruin everything if Lucinda or Billy overheard us.

"If you weren't in the wrong then why were the two of you hiding when I came in?" she said, moving her hand under chin so that we were looking each other in the eye.

Thick quick, Cullen: play the sympathy card. "Because I knew you'd be worried when you saw how I looked…" I tried, doubtful that she'd believe this.

"Errrr, try again," she coldly replied, touching around my eye now.

Okay, try number two. "So you're saying you're not worried about me?" I asked, with my best wounded voice I could conjure up.

"I didn't say that but right now my pissed off level and my concern level are about even," she answered, taking the packet of ice and roughly placing it against my lip.

"Oww," I winced, unable to contain that.

"Oops," she replied, unsympathetically. "Didn't mean to press that hard."

Oh yes she did.

"What else hurts?" she asked.

"I'm fine; that didn't hurt. I just wasn't expecting the cold," I lied.

"You don't look fine," she replied, the edge in her voice dissipating slightly. The more she examined my face the more concerned she looked. "Now tell me what happened. You promised me you weren't going to do anything and that you were just going to let me take care of all this. Why couldn't you just leave this alone and let me handle it like you said you would? Instead you got a very swollen black eye, split lip, bruises up and down your neck and god knows what else. Is this all about your damn ego?" she questioned, her face going slightly red again. She was working herself back up.

"No, this isn't about ego, at all: this is about you. The way Jake has treated you is unacceptable," I simply stated.

"No, you're not putting this on me. I never asked you to go out and 'protect my honor' or whatever; in fact, I asked you to _NOT_ do anything stupid but you couldn't even do that. _I_ thought we decided to handle this _together_ and not keep things from each other. Against my better judgment, _I_ have included you in every step of this. I guess that didn't go both ways…" she replied, sitting down next to me in a huff now. "So _don't_ give me that this is all about me when this is really all about _you_."

"Okay, fine, you're right- it's not all about you: it's about us," I answered her honestly. I looked over to see her reaction but she wasn't even looking in my direction.

Loud footsteps came from the hallway; I guess Billy was trying to warn us that he was on his way back and stompimg dowm the hallway was the best he could come up with. Screaming 'I'm on my back to the room' would have been a little more discreet though.

"I know you're mad but I'm not sorry. I'm not willing to risk Jake BSing his way out of this. Believe me, if you had heard the things he was saying tonight you wouldn't have risked that either. What I did secures he'll have to take responsibility; I'm not willing to risk losing you," I quickly whispered before Billy walked back in.

"Everything alright," Billy asked cautiously as he took his seat again.

"Yes," Bella answered, taking my hand in hers and squeezing it just a bit too hard. Clearly it wasn't okay but she, sure as hell, wasn't about to let that show.

"I brought another ice pack and towel for your lip, Edward. The only thing that looks like you need a bandage for is your lip which might need stitches, so I told Lu to just hang out in the kitchen in case we need her. You know how she can get," he told Bella who nodded her head in understanding. "Well why don't we jump to it, so Bella can get you to Carlisle."

"Good idea," Bella stated removing the old ice pack and roughly jamming the new one against my lip again. Like she said, everything was _totally_ fine – she was over it and wasn't upset at all... Thank god I didn't tell her my eye was hurting, she probably would have made my black eye even worse. After that, though, none of us said anything; the three of us sat there, awkwardly, unsure of who should start.

"Well you called this meeting – so why don't you begin," Billy suggested, giving Bella a reassuring smile. "When did all this start?"

She took a long breath and then started. "It happened before Edward even got back to Forks; maybe it had been going on since we first got together but I never noticed. Over the summer Jacob had started saying certain things, acting a certain way. He'd get overly possessive and not want me to hang out with any of my friends – especially Emmett. He always felt threatened that the two of us were so close but now it had gotten infinently worse. By the time school had started up again, Jacob was trying to order me around and telling me what I could and couldn't do; he even threatened Alice. I couldn't take it anymore; he was being just too controlling. The final straw was what he said to Alice: he thought it was okay to try to intimidate her into talking to him to see why I was acting so distant. After that, I told him I wanted to break up. With him going off to college it would be easy, a clean break. But he didn't want to hear any of that. He didn't believe that this was what I really wanted and that I was just overacting. Eventually, though, he backed off and seemed to accept it: he went off to school, doing the college thing and I went about my life here," she paused for a break, letting Billy absorb the story thus far. He sat back in his chair, intently listening and taking a sip from his drink.

"Then everything was good; I didn't hear from him, there had been no communication at all," she explained but I cut her off.

"She hadn't heard from him but I had. Every once and a while, when it seemed like Bella and I were getting closer, I would get a text from him as if to remind me that 'she was his' - his words not mine - and that he was watching. It was just odd, like he had chosen those moments in particular to text knowing that Bella and I were making headway in becoming closer. I couldn't prove anything but it was all _too_ coincidental – like someone was spying on us for him," I interjected, painfully. Apparently, now it even hurt to talk.

Bella gave me a hard look, as if to ask if I was done. I nodded and she continued. "As I was saying, I thought he had gotten the point. That was until New Years Eve. He showed up, uninvited to Emmett's annual party, and kissed me at midnight; I was totally blindsided. Jake wanted everyone to think we were back together. He made it a big display for everyone to see: which he _knows_ I don't like. If he really wanted me back, he knew that ambushing me on New Year's wasn't the right way to go about. He didn't care, though; he never cared about my feelings or what I wanted. It was like I was his possession - his property - and he was making the point to everyone, as Edward said, that I was his – which is total bull shit," she said, unabashedly.

"So were the two of you together at this point?" Billy asked.

"By New Years, yes, but no one knew," Bella replied.

"Jake thought we were together since before he left, or he at least thought I was I interested in Bella, which wasn't the case. We didn't get together until November and we weren't really even speaking until a little before that…" I added.

Billy raised his eyebrows. "I guess that's another story for another time," he stated with a small smirk. "So back to New Years."

"Yes, so after New Years was when the press seemed to take off with the story of Jacob and me. I was pretty sure he was the one who had tipped them off; it had to be either him or someone from his group. I'm used to the press but its not something I'm particularly fond of. And this time, since it was such a 'hot' story, the paparazzi were more aggressive – Emmett and I almost got into a few accidents because of them. No one wanted me to go out by myself: my parents even considered getting me a bodyguard at one point because it got so bad. The entire time the press was harassing me Jacob remained quite: I didn't hear one peep from him. At the time I didn't think anything of it but, looking back at it now, that should have been a clue that he was up to something," she continued, taking a sip of water. "It wasn't until the charity auction that he made contact again, bidding my date and winning."

"And people still didn't know you two were together, correct? And this was around February?" Billy asked. He seemed to be trying to get a timeline down.

"Nope; I was still in a paparazzi shit storm and didn't want to add more fuel to the fire by bringing Edward into it. I also didn't want to confirm anything to Jacob; he was already suspicious but as long as nothing was confirmed all he could do was speculate. The worst of it happened at the charity date, when Edward went out with Victoria," she said through gritted teeth, gripping my hand even tighter. She still wasn't over what had happened in the hotel room with Victoria.

I decided to take over at this point, so that she wouldn't have to go into detail and just work herself up over this yet again. "Basically, Jake had partnered up with Victoria and manipulating her into working with him. Since Victoria was on the Charity Committee, she was the one who prohibited anyone else from bidding on Bella and had also won my date. After our date she staged it so that when Bella came to my room afterwards, it looked like I had cheated on her with Victoria. I wasn't even in the room when Bella saw her; Victoria claimed she got food poisoning and that she left her purse somewhere on the hotel floor so I went and looked for it," I explained.

"So with that," Bella said, picking up where I left off, "we broke up – which was exactly what Jacob wanted and planned on. There was a good span of time we were broken up, about two months, maybe longer. During that time, I did call Jacob – in an attempt to get back at Edward – which ended up biting me in the ass. I knew I didn't want to get back with him and that it was wrong using Jacob but I knew, above anyone else, that going out with him would drive Edward crazy. It wasn't my finest hour but it did work. The night Jacob came, the night of the lip syncing contest, was also the night we got drugged. After that, I put even more distance between Jacob and I. I didn't think he had anything to do with it since he got drugged as well but there was always something in the back of my mind that made me cautious. After that, I didn't really talking to either Edward or Jacob – I didn't want to have anything to do with either of them," she stated, taking another long sip of water.

"It wasn't until Alice forced us together that Bella and I spoke again. And even then, the only reason we spoke was because we were lost in the middle of the woods and my leg got trapped under a giant log," I continued with a small smile as I looked at Bella remembering that day. "As we talked and worked out what happened, we figured out that there was one common denominator: Victoria. She was the only reason we weren't together: she had deliberately broken us up. When we confronted her, she told us everything: that it was Jake's idea to make it look like we had sex and that he had _deliberately_ drugged Bella. We're still not entirely sure why he'd want to drug her though."

Billy's face hardened immediately. "So you're saying that he was the one who Roofie you and drugged himself?" he asked.

Both Bella and I nodded. "The only reason he took some too was so that it wouldn't look suspicious," she added. "That's just my personal opinion, though. I don't know what's going on with him but he's out of control. He can't keep doing this and think its okay; he can't interfere in other people's lives just because he thinks he knows better. At some point what he does is going to come back and bite him in the ass. I'm worried about how far he's willing to go and what he's willing to do, especially after seeing the aftermath of tonight," she said glancing at my face. "This was one flare up but how many flare ups can he have until we call it a problem?"

"Have you had any other contact with him since then?" he asked, looking between us.

"A couple times but only to get him back here so that we could talk to the cops and get that over and done with," Bella answered truthfully.

"I think he may have texted me once or twice but I never responded," I commented.

"So Victoria was the one who went to the cops?" Billy questioned.

"We're not really sure. She said she didn't and I believe her; she really has no reason to lie to us anymore but I don't know who else would know. She said Jacob was the one who got the drugs so maybe whoever he bought from tipped them off as a way to get back at him for something," Bella stated. "You either love him or you don't and, unfortunately, there were a lot who didn't."

She knew exactly who called the cops, seeing as she was the person who did so - anonymously of course. And it was a way to get back at him so she wasn't totally lying…

"And this was all that's happened? Nothing else – aside from tonight of course," Billy asked. As the conversation progressed Billy's face had gotten paler and paler as he learned what his son had done and was capable of.

Bella shook her head again but I spoke out. "There's one thing more," I said without really thinking. She wasn't going to say anything to Billy if I didn't push a little. She'd be pissed with me but she was already mad, so what was a little more heat? I knew she was embarrassed and ashamed, even though she would _never_ admit to that, that this even happened but Billy had to know. He _had_ to understand what his son had turned into. I mean he'd seen what Jake did to me but I was positive that he thought his son wouldn't touch a girl, especially Bella. She was staring daggers at me, livid that I had brought this up at all. I silently pleaded with her to tell Billy on her own, so I wouldn't have to. We continued our stare down, trying to will the other person to acquiesce to our demands.

Finally, Billy coughed loudly trying to end the uncomfortable and awkward silence.

"Tell him Bella," I encouraged.

She gave me a quick, stern look which immediately softened when she turned towards Billy. "It was nothing, really," she commented, brushing this off. "He's just making a big deal over nothing."

"Having bruises on your arms for weeks isn't nothing," I replied somberly.

"_What_?" Billy exclaimed, his voice raised. "Jake hurt you?"

"Not really - things just got out of hand," she stated. "It was only a couple days."

"That's not true – the marks were there for a while," I told Billy.

"I'm positive he didn't mean for it to happen," she reasoned with herself. "He was just overly emotional…"

"You don't need to defend him – this wasn't your fault," I interjected, cutting her off. "It's okay, just say what happened."

She always did this whenever I brought that night up. I knew she was furious over what happened and didn't want anything to do with him but she always refused to discuss that part of the night; she always left that part out of the conversation. And if I somehow _was_ able to get her to open up about that part of the night it always seemed like she was justifying his actions. She knew what he did wasn't right but she didn't want to, or just couldn't, deal with it. In fact, the only time she said anything about Jake hurting her was when we were in the woods; she'd never brought the topic since. I always had to bring it up which made me feel like a giant ass. When I'd say something about it she would just change the subject altogether unless I really pushed her and then she'd just get mad at me and tell me to fuck off. Maybe that was her coping mechanism but I just didn't get it. She needed to work through those emotions and anger but she just wouldn't.

"I'm _not_ defending him," she answered defensively, like she did the few times we had talked about this before, and turned away from me.

"What exactly happened? Maybe it would be good to discuss this," Billy reasoned.

"Okay, let's discuss," she stated through gritted teeth and crossing her arms.

"Why don't you just tell Billy what you told me," I suggested, pulling her a little closer and rubbing the small of her back, trying to make her feel more at ease.

"Alright," she said tightly, gazing past Billy into the corner or the room; it was obvious she didn't want to make eye contact with either of us. "It happened the night I broke up with him. Like I said before, he refused to believe it was really over for good this time and didn't want me to leave. He grabbed my arms to stop me from leaving and wouldn't let me go. I tried to move away, to break free of his grasp, but his grip just kept tightening around my arms and then my wrists: I could feel my hands going a little numb. I was concerned that if I fought back too much I might really get hurt or that he would get even more upset and do something else. I, somehow, managed to break free but as I was trying to leave he yanked me back to him and kissed me. When he stopped I slapped him as hard as I could and high tailed it out of the room. And that was it. I was pretty rattled for the next couple days after that."

"Can you show me where the bruises were?" Billy asked. You could sense how distraught he was over this.

Bella looked down at her arms and pushed up the sleeves of her jacket. She moved her hand from her wrist to mid arm to show where the bruises where. "They were along here and you could even make out the handprint for a good week or so. After that, the bruises were still there but it just looked like I fell or banged into something. I wore long sleeves for a good month to make sure the bruises weren't visible; I didn't want to deal with any questions about what happened," she explained.

Billy rubbed his hands over his face as he sunk into the back of the chair. "Jesus Jake," he sighed. "Does anyone else know? Your parents? Edward's?" he asked.

She shook her head, "You two are the only ones."

"Dad? Bells? Where are you guys? " Jake said, calling through the house until he saw the light on in the family room.

We all quickly stood. I, instinctively, positioned myself so that I was in front of Bella. In case something happened again, I didn't want her getting hurt.

"You won't believe what…," Jake began until he saw me and totally lost it. "What the fuck are you doing here!" he yelled, rushing over to me.

Bella had moved around me and put herself in between the two of us. She had moved so quickly I hadn't even noticed. "Jacob, calm down," she ordered, glaring at him while holding out her hand like a stop sign. He didn't dare come any closer with Bella between us.

"Why is _he_ in my house," he continued yelling looking between her and Billy.

"He's here to discuss what happened," Billy stated, coming into the conversation.

"There's nothing to discuss – _he's_ the one who ran into my car," Jake shot back. "He did this deliberately or did he fail to mention that? Always trying to make me look like the bad guy. I must say you've had better days, Cullen," he added with a smirk.

"I did not: it was an accident, it was nobody's fault," I protested, refusing to acknowledge that last part. "I didn't know you were going to be there – how would I have known?"

"Bull shit!" Jake yelled. "You know, as well as I do, that this wasnt an accident! Bella are you actually believing this crap: he's lying!"

"ENOUGH!" Billy shouted over Jake, as he continued rambling on. "Jacob, the reason Edward's here is because I asked him to come. So take a seat and keep your mouth shut," he said motioning to the chair next to his. Billy was pissed and wasn't fucking around.

Jake, begrudgingly, made his way to the other side of the room and sat directly across from Bella. We both tried not to look at each other, knowing one wrong look and we would both start screaming again.

"Do you need any ice or bandages Jake?" Lucinda asked, popping her head into the room.

"No, none for me, thanks, but Cullen looks like he could use another towel and an ice pack," he replied, with that smug smirk again as he locked eyes with me.

"Actually Lu," I added, keeping my gaze steady with his, "you should probably bring him some ice too for his nose and shoulder. He was in a lot of pain when I last saw him and he couldn't really move." Lucinda nodded and headed back out of the room to get supplies.

Jake was simmering, if I said one more thing I was almost positive that he wouldn't be able to contain himself. Bella picked up on this too.

"Both of you just shut up!" Bella yelled which quieted is both. "I know you think you're helping but you're not; Billy will just get mad at you for antagonizing him," she quickly whispered to me in a barely audible voice.

Billy glanced between the two of us to see if we were really done. I finally looked away from Jake, taking Bella's hand in mine and leaned into the couch with her. I'd play nice if I had to…

"Jake, I've got a couple of questions for you and I want you to answer me honestly," Billy said sternly.

"I'll do my best," he answered flippantly.

"I'm serious Jacob; I would be in your best interest to go with the program. There are real consequences this time: ones you can't BS your way out of," Billy warned.

"Seriously, I'd listen," Bella interjected coldly.

"Fine – I'm all ears. I'll answer whatever but I want him gone," Jake said, motioning towards me.

"He's staying and you're still going to answer," Billy said firmly. "Are you still using?"

Jake mumbled something to himself, looking at the ground. He played with the cup of water in his hands. "On occasion," he said, finally looking up, "but not like before. Its mostly prescription crap that everyone's using in the dorms. I'd call it recreational usage at best."

"What exactly would you say is recreational usage?" Billy asked.

"Parties, on the weekends… I don't know; it's not something I'm keeping a detailed record of," he responded.

"Were you on anything tonight?" he pressed.

Jake shook his head. "I just had something to drink on the plane."

"How much is some?" I pressed.

"I don't have to answer your fucking questions," Jake growled back at me.

"Take it easy Jake," Billy warned, shooting him a stern look. "And it's a legitimate question: how much did you drink on the plane?"

"I don't know a couple glasses of whiskey? I'm not sure. I'm sure your little spies on the plane could tell you better than me," he snipped at his father.

"Don't you worry, I'll be sure to ask them," Billy replied. "What about your interference in their relationship?"

"What are you talking about; I've never interfered. If Cullen felt threatened with some healthy competition, that's not my problem," Jake sneered.

"It's not healthy competition when you alert the media to start stalking Bella over made up stories, have your friends report back to you on what we're doing, or concoct a whole scheme to break us up," I told him.

"You've got it all wrong Cullen; I never did any of that," Jake commented back.

"No he doesn't; Victoria told us everything Jacob. You might not have made the actual phone call but you were the one who told them to do it, who orchestrated this whole thing. You used your friends as a cover, since they wouldn't sell you out, and you manipulated Victoria into doing your dirty work so you wouldn't be implicated: you had her do things you knew would be my breaking point. Without her, none of this would have worked.

She rigged it so no other bid would come in for me at the charity auction except yours, securing you to win. You had her do the same thing for Edward and then on their date told her to sleep with him and if that didn't work, to make look like she did so I'd break up with him. _ Who does that?_

If any of the things you ever told me were true, that you cared for me _at all_, you wouldn't have done any of those things. You just would have bowed out, wanting me to be happy. But you didnt, showing me you don't care about me at all. All you care about is yourself; I'm only some prize for you to have. And that is all I've ever been to you. That if you can't have me, no one can. Well I'm telling you right now – that's bull shit," she told him, sitting up in the couch. I was holding on to her hand so she would stay put; she had gotten so riled up it looked like she was about to go over and slap the shit out of Jake.

"I'm not stopping you from doing anything or dating anyone, so stop insinuating that I am, but you can do much better than Cullen. If I'm guilty of doing anything its trying to show you that. And with Victoria... I've only met her a couple times; I'm flattered you think I have this much influence over one person, though. We've chatted and your name _may_ have been mentioned, I dont really remember, but I didn't tell her to do anything. All I know is she wanted you gone from the beginning, especially since - from what I heard - you weren't always the nicest to her. Sorry to break it to you but not everyone loves you," Jake replied, he was starting to get worked up as well.

"Okay, fine, I'll own up to it: I probably didn't treat her the best but I guarantee she wouldn't have gone to these extremes without you whispering in her ear. And yes, I do think you have that much infuence over people - you're a master manipulator and she's naive enough to buy into you bull shit. Bottom line: she's a freshman, not even 15 yet – _you're_ the one who should have known better. You can't blame her for this. If I owned up to my bad behavior you should be able to man up and own up to yours," she reprimanded him.

Jake slammed his glass down on the coffee table but said nothing. He didn't know how to act with all of us in front of him.

"Is what they're saying true? Were you the one who called the press, leaking the story that you two were back together and turning Bella's life upside down for months? That you used a 14 year old girl to do your dirty work and tried to get her,_ a minor_, to sleep with Edward?" his dad asked, disappointment seeped in his voice.

"Why don't we discuss why I'm actually back here – to speak with the cops," Jake grumbled, avoiding the questions altogether. No one needed for him to actually confirm this; his avoidance was confirmation enough.

"Yes, why don't we," Bella stated. "The night we got Roofied, you said you didn't know who did it, right?" she asked, setting him up. Any way he answered wouldn't be good for him.

"Nope, remember I got drugged too," he replied, calmly – he still didn't think he got caught.

"Well, when you talked with the police did they happen to tell you who they believe did it?" she asked again.

"No, they didn't say anything to me; did they say something to you?" he inquired with a raised brow.

"As a matter of fact, they did," she stated, staring at him accusingly.

"What? They said it was me?" he replied, shocked by the allegation. "That's ridiculous; you don't honestly believe that? How could it have been when I was drugged too?"

"Actually, I think I do believe it – the police have never lied to me but you have again and again. Besides, what would they have to gain from lying about it?" she questioned.

"To ruin my reputation – that's what they'd have to gain," he replied, raising his voice. "Dad you don't seriously believe that I would do that to Bella?"

Bella didn't let Billy respond, cutting him off. "I'm sorry, but I hardly think you're even a blip on their radar… unless there's something else you haven't mentioned? But back to what we're dealing with now: you were the only one who had any real access to your flask and the only reason to do it. Remember, I'm not some ditzy sorority girl you met one night at a rager - I know you. I'm well aware that you don't let _anyone_ touch that flask except you because it was your grandpa's and it means so much to you... Besides, I remember you telling me you'd used Roofies recreationally before; maybe you meant to put a little in as a relaxant and just got a little heavy handed. Maybe it really was an accident… But it really doesn't come as a surprise to me after everything else," she stated.

Jake scrunched his face, trying to understand what she was alluding to. "What are you implying?" he asked cautiously.

"Oh, I think you know exactly what she's referring to," I answered him, giving him a look of full understanding.

"Stay out of this!" he yelled at me and then turned his attention to Bella. "You know that was an accident; I didn't mean to do that," he stated, apologetically in a much softer tone. He even looked like he had meant it. Jake was a lot of things but even I didn't think his intention was to injure Bella. He just couldn't control himself at a certain point, which was another problem altogether.

"It doesn't matter if you didn't mean to, it shouldn't have gotten that far to begin with. The bruises on her arms were there for weeks," I added.

"Don't talk about things you know nothing about," he growled at me.

"You don't have to believe me, ask her yourself," I spat back. I hoped that Bella would back me up and not clam up about that night now that I had brought it up.

He looked at Bella, you could see that he was skeptical. "Is that true?"

Bella nodded her head.

Jake rushed over, sitting on the arm on the sofa next to her. "Bells, I'm so sorry; you know I didn't mean it. It's just, sometimes I can't control myself and I lose it," he said quietly, trying to talk exclusively to her.

"I know and that's the problem," she explained. "Just because you say you can't control yourself doesn't make it okay – that's just an excuse. That's not normal behavior. You can't go around hitting people and then use the excuse that you can't control your behavior. You know what you're doing and you _can_ control your behavior - you're not five years old."

"It won't happen again; I promise you. It was a onetime occurance; it'll never happen again especially since we've talked it out. I know all of this was just you proving a point to me, that my behavior that night was unexceptable, and you did. Let's move forward from this," he said taking her hand in his and away from me.

"You're not listening to me, _again_," she said pulling her hand away and trying her best to stay calm. "Did I _say_ I wanted to move forward? No, you hear what you want to. This has nothing to do with us Jacob. Listen to me: there is _no_ us. The fact that this is all you hear, that you think this is all about our nonexistant relationship and nothing else, is the problem. You don't really think what you've done is wrong which _is_ the problem. The only reason you're even saying sorry to me now is because you know that's what's expected of you and you don't want to get in trouble, not because you feel remorse," she told him bitterly.

"How do you know how I feel? I wouldn't have said anything if I didn't feel bad. And I don't have any problem! So stop saying that," Jake yelled. He took a second to compose himself and cool off. "I made a mistake, _one_, and that that was it. Am I not allowed to have any mistakes?"

"One mistake?" she scoffed. "What about tonight or does that not count? What about everything else you've done up to this point? Were these _mistakes_ too or do those things not even register? Having Victoria try to sleep with my boyfriend isn't okay. Having your friends spy on me isn't okay. Trying to meddle in my life _isn't_ okay!" she yelled at him. "Those weren't mistakes they were deliberate actions! You can't just do whatever you want and expect there to be no consequences."

He was silent. I could tell that he was trying to process all of this, trying to figure a way out of it.

"Bella, stop trying to reason with him. He knows that what he did was wrong but the thing you don't realize is that he just doesn't care," I stated. "Get what you want by any means, right Jake? That's always what you told me," I baited him, looking him in the eye.

"Edward shut up" he ordered, his hands clenching into a fist.

"What did I strike nerve?" I retorted.

He immediately got up and tried to get over to me; Billy held him back though.

"You want to talk about playing games," Jake replied. "Well he's playing one too Bella. He's the one who deliberately crashed into my car just to get me to look bad because he knew I'd lose it. Does that sound like a stand up guy to you? He's the bad guy here, not me."

"Jake drop it with the damn car accident. I don't know what happened out there aside from the fact that there was an accident," Billy commented. "Let's say it was deliberate, does that give you a justifiable reason to beat him up? Jake this wasn't some playground fight; you threw him into an open car door for crying out loud. He could have busted open his head and then what? Did you think about that? He could press charges against you and be in the right. In fact, I'd probably advise him to by the way you're talking because it sounds like you're not going to let this go."

"Dad, are you seriously telling him to press charges against your own son?" he asked shocked.

"Yes, yes I am; unless you agree to go to rehab for drug abuse and counseling for anger management. If you don't then I will call the police myself. Jake, you're out of control and need help. That's what Bella and Edward were trying to tell you tonight but you just wouldn't listen - you wouldn't even admit to the things you've done. That's a problem, a big one. I should have been more aware and seen this but I was too busy or maybe I just didn't want to see. But now that I am aware of the situation, I'm going to get you the best help to fix this," Billy stated.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," Jake exclaimed. "I'm not going to anger management over this _or_ rehab old man!"

"Jacob sit down," Billy ordered and stared him down. Eventually, Jake did what his father told him. "Bella, Edward, I think it would be a good idea for the two of you to leave. You have my word that I'll deal with him. Edward, get to your dad - you really need to be checked out. I'll call your parents later and tell them what decisions have been made. If I have to, believe me that I will call the police on him. I apologize for Jake's behavior; it's totally unacceptable and I can't say sorry enough," he told us in a much calmer manner but still, obviously, frustrated and pissed.

Bella and I made our way to the door in silence. Neither of us said a word until we got back to my house.

**so what did you think? i hope you guys enjoyed it, i really do. this one took a lot out of me and had countless edits and re-writes so i hope i did it justice. let me know if you agree, disagree, have comments, concerns, questions... you know the drill.**

**the two songs i which were basically each boy's theme song are these: love the way you lie, eminem for jake and h.a.m by jay-z and kanye for edward.**

**there are a couple chapters left, we're coming to a close...**


	41. Repercussions

**why hello again everyone. i know it's been a while - i appologize. i hope everyone's having a great summer. **

**i'm uber sorry it's taken me this long to get this chapter up but it's taken me a while to get everything down. there have been A LOT of re-writes and way that this chapter has gone down. i hope you all like the way it's turned out. i know i have.**

**i want to say thank you to everyone who has stuck with the story, given me your feedback, and been understanding with why it's taken so long to post this chapter. i REALLY appreciate it. you guys rock. i can't say enough good things. you all are incomparable!**

**i won't go on any longer**

"Do you have _any_ idea how seriously you could have been hurt? Or what could have happened to Jake? What about Jasper? Edward, did you think about this _at all_?" Esme lectured. "Have you taken a look in the mirror? I don't care what you say, you are not _fine_!"

I was upstairs waiting for her to finish so that I could rip into him. If he thought that he had gotten out of getting yelled at tonight just because Esme had caught him first, he had another thing coming.

"And just _wait_ until Carlisle comes home… He's going to run every test imaginable on you. I paged him to come home immediately but no one can cover and no one else is on call. I'm tempted to take you down to the hospital right now to get you checked out," she continued.

Alice came into the room with a huge bowl of popcorn and plopped down on the couch next to me. "Serves them both right," she stated before taking a handful of popcorn. "Going behind our backs and trying to get away with this," she continued, chomping away.

"This isn't a fucking movie," I spat at her. I was still livid and taking out my anger on anyone. "Esme's right – this could have been serious and someone could have ended up in the hospital. Someone may still end up in the hospital, we don't know how seriously Edward's been hurt."

Alice just rolled her eyes and held out the popcorn again, expectantly. She knew I'd eventually cave – which I did. I grabbed a handful after a couple minutes of the bowl floating in front of my face.

"I totally agree but he seems to be alright; I'm telling you it just looks worse than it actually is. When have I ever been wrong? So now there's nothing left to do but berate him and Jasper until they feel as guilty as humanly possible," Alice commented. "I've never seen Esme get this mad at any of them before – even Rose; it's pretty entertaining," she smirked.

Sometimes I really didn't get Alice; how could she think there wasn't anything to worry about? Did she know something that I didn't? His entire fucking face was swollen and black and blue. _And_ he was thrown into a car door: that was something to be worried about!

"And if you think I've forgotten about you and that _you've _escaped punishment just because you didn't actually 'do' anything, you are sorely mistaken!" Esme yelled, now directing her attention to Jazz. "How could you have not stopped him? Did you think this was a good idea – or did you not think about the ramifications of this either? You're the one claiming to be the smartest of the three of you! I'm utterly disappointed in both of you: we raised you better than this," Esme continued rambling on as Alice and I continued stuffing our faces with popcorn totally engrossed.

Riley started crying which interrupted her flow – and just as she got in her groove. Alice and I looked at each other unsure if we should take care of the baby so that she could continue to chastise the boys. Before we had time to react, Esme was already on the move climbing the stairs to the nursery.

"And if you think this is over just because Riley started crying then the two of you are dumber than I thought," Esme continued. She was so flustered with the two of them that she had started repeating herself. "_And_, in case you didn't realize it because it was _implied_ and not clearly spelled out, since I apparently give you two too much intellectual credit, you're both _grounded_!" she yelled.

She rushed past us towards the nursery. "I can't believe my children are this fucking stupid!" she muttered to herself. "Shhh, Riley; it's alright," Esme cooed as Riley continued to wail, "I'm not yelling at you, my little angel, just your dumbass brothers!"

Alice and I looked at each other. As furious as I was with this whole situation, I couldn't contain myself when I heard Esme throw the F bomb. Alice looked like she was about to lose it too and fall into a laughing fit. I clasped my hand over my mouth so that I could contain my own laughter. I was certain I'd never heard Esme curse before, let alone use the word fuck – it totally threw me for a loop.

As quick as Esme came up the stairs, she flew back down - Riley in hand. "Because of you two, now I've got to calm her down…_again_. She's been colicky all day, so I _really_ appreciate this. March your asses upstairs until your father come home and just keep quiet; I'm sure the girls will have plenty to say to you. _Now go_," she commanded.

I heard them shuffle out of the family room and stop at what I imagined was the stairs: they weren't in any hurry to come up. And if I was in their position, I wouldn't want to either. But I _wasn't_ in their position and it was time for them to face the music.

"Boys, move it!" Esme ordered after they had been standing there for over a minute. "_Don't_ make me tell you again," she warned.

Jasper and Edward trudged up the stairs; they were not looking forward to what was to come. Alice had put down the popcorn and put on her game face; she wasn't about to let either of them forget this anytime soon. "So how do you want to play this?" she asked me.

I was silent; I wasn't sure what I wanted to say to him or how to react. I knew I wanted to talk with Edward but I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that now – being alone with him right now didn't seem like the greatest idea since I felt like I could go off at any moment. My emotions were all over the place and I wanted them to settle down before really talking with him.

The entire drive back to the house I had been totally mute. I was furious, silently seething, but couldn't help but be concerned because he looked horrendous. My emotions kept fluctuating: I would be blindingly furious and then suddenly be trying to hold it together because I was so worried about how hurt he really was. Edward kept telling me how "fine" he was in the car, that it looked worse than it was, but I _did_ _not_ believe him. Edward had put on a brave face, which apparently Alice believed, but I didn't buy it. With every breath he took or bump in the road he winced in pain even though he tried to cover it up. He was _not _okay and the fact that he kept saying that only angered me more.

When we stepped through the door, Esme's horrified face matched my own. She didn't know how to react either; the more Edward told her he was fine and evaded details the louder she got. Both of us wanted Carlisle home _now_ and Esme basically did everything in her power, aside from going down to the other doctors' houses and dragging them to the hospital, to get Carlisle home. Why we just didn't go to the hospital to have him properly evaluated I didn't know.

I heard their footsteps quickly approaching; I needed to make a decision. "I'll handle this on my own," I whispered tersely to Alice before they walked through the door.

"We're going to your room _now_," Alice ordered, staring down Jasper. "Edward, just sit down and shut up," she said in a softer tone after she took a hard look at him.

She seemed shocked over how much worse he had gotten within 15 minutes. Did she still believe that he only looked worse than he actually was, now? His face was even more swollen than it had been when we arrived, almost to the point of disfigurement, and there were even more deep-colored bruises that had appeared on his face and neck. It looked like he had been in a bad car accident rather than a fight.

"The two of us _will_ be talking later," I reminded Jasper sternly. He was almost as much to blame for this coming to fruition as Edward. If he had said one thing to me – just one - I could have averted this whole thing but, no, he kept his damn mouth shut.

He nodded but didn't make eye contact as they retreated to Jasper's room. Edward took a seat on the couch in the meanwhile. He kept trying to look me in the eye but I kept shifting my gaze - I couldn't look at him. I knew if I looked at his battered and bruised face I would completely lose it and go into total comfort-mode. I wasn't some heartless bitch; I just wanted to try and get as many answers as I could out of him before comfort-mode-Bella, inevitably, came out.

I carefully considered what to say, making sure my voice wouldn't betray me. I wanted him to know how furious I was but if my voice trembled and cracked all would be lost. "Explain everything," I demanded through gritted teeth, which was the only I could reign in my emotions. I crossed my arms in front of my chest, closing me off towards him and putting me in a defensive stance.

"What do you want to know?" he asked calmly.

"Well, we both know Jacob was right: you planned this. How did you manage to stage a car accident and make it look real?" I questioned.

"Jasper has a device he created a while ago – quite ingenious actually – which disturbs radio waves and creates a loud, high pitched screeching noise. We used that at the right moment when the driver told us Jake was coming…" he explained.

I cut him off and got up from the couch to face him. "You involved another person in this insane plan? Do you realize you could have gotten all of you killed?" I shrieked, honestly shocked by their stupidity. My ire over the situation was winning out due to the stupidity of his comments. My concern for his well went out the window for the moment too. "You, not only, endangered _your_ life and Jacobs but Jasper's and now a random driver? What the fuck were you thinking? How stupid were the two of you?" I knew my voice had probably gone up about 3 octaves and was yelling but I didn't care. I was also so upset I was rambling on: I couldn't tell you what else I said if my life depended on it.

"Bella," he said in a gravelly voice, raising his voice in hopes that I would stop talking, which I did. "It's not what you think. Everything was orchestrated perfectly and I did take safety into consideration. There's no way that anyone could have gotten hurt at this point; I subbed out Jake's driver for a stuntman I had heard about…"

"Heard about from _whom_?" I interrupted again. There were only two people that Edward knew who knew stuntmen in the area. And if either James or Mike had helped him out… God help them both; I'd have their balls.

"From no one," he answered with a cough, clearing his throat, "I just Googled it."

He waited for my reaction before proceeding. I highly doubted that was the case but there was no way I could prove he was lying. I crossed my hands again and bit the side of my mouth, to not say anything else, as I sat back on the couch, "Go on."

"So I hired this stuntman, and no I'm not telling you his name," he told me as I opened my mouth to ask him. "I conferred with him about how to hit a car to make it look real but to make sure no got hurt. I even made sure both our, and Jake's, cars were the kind specified by the stuntman which would cushion the impact. Everything was taken into consideration Bella – I wasn't going to leave anything to chance. I didn't want anyone to walk away from this hurt," he explained.

I snorted. "Well you did a bang up job of that then… just look at you," I replied rolling my eyes.

"This was…" he said, pausing to think of his word choice carefully, "unavoidable."

"Oh was it?" I answered back flippantly.

"Yes, it was. I needed to look like this in order for things to go our way: to be rid of Jake for good. I needed to come out of this looking worse than he did," Edward stated calmly. He was just acting so cool, calm, and collected – it was damn frustrating and even more infuriating! Like I was just supposed to understand what he had done; that it was completely logical.

"Did you _also_ need to get hit by a car door to make your point? _No,_ you didn't. Edward, what if that door had hit you in the head? What then: being brain dead, no big deal? What if you're bleeding internally? We don't know since you haven't been checked out! What if you're seriously hurt? You know you can't control Jacob or what he'll do, he's a fucking loose cannon!" I retorted, raising my voice yet again. I was seeing red again and, possibly, not making any sense.

"But I'm not seriously hurt," he began.

"That you know of!" I interrupted.

"And he didn't throw me into the car door; I just grazed it." He brushed of the injury comment off and continued with his point. "My goal was to get Jake to completely loose: which is what I did," he answered in a raspy voice. It sounded like it was becoming progressively difficult for him to speak.

"Well bravo, you look like hell and let him beat the shit out of you: point definitely made," I answered sarcastically. "But why, when we already had a plan in place? Why go out of your way to do this?" I pressed.

"I told you why at the house," he stated simply.

I felt my hands ball into fists underneath my arms as my temper flared yet again. "That's not a good enough reason," I spat back. "We said, _from the beginning_, that we were in this _together_ but you went behind _my _back – _all_ of our backs – and did what you wanted. You deliberately lied, omitted, conveniently left out - whatever the fuck you want to call it – what you were up to. So I will ask you again, _why_?"

I closed my eyes tight to suppress the tears I felt welling up. All emotions – anger, concern, frustration – were hitting me at once and I needed a release; it seemed like tears were the release my body had come up with even though did not _want_ to cry. I was just overwhelmed. I took a couple deep breaths trying to gain my composure back. I reopened my burning eyes and readjusted my arms in my lap to distract myself.

"Answer the question!" I pressed after another stretch of silence.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked, scooting closer to me on the couch and reaching for my hand which I quickly moved away. I did not want him touching me at the moment. "I've answered everything you've asked of me and I've told you the truth. I wasn't about to let Jake figure out some way out of this and have him keep creeping into our lives. He's _too_ manipulative Bella; he'd always be around in one way or another. He'd be in the back of both of our minds even if he wasn't around."

"You don't know that…." I began, finally looking up at him before he cut me off.

He moved both of his hands, quickly enveloping mine in his, and looked me straight in the eyes. "Yes, I do," he answered resolutely. "He'd _never_ give up."

"Yes, he would have," I interrupted again. "We had him in a corner and we would have won without you doing this."

"No, he wouldn't have," Edward said, gripping my hands now, almost as if in desperation. "You didn't hear what he said tonight. Earlier, I had second thoughts, if this was really the right thing to do, but after what he said about you tonight… I _knew_ I was right. If I had just gone along with our initial plan, eventually, we would have lost," he explained grimly.

I sat back into the sofa and sighed. "Alright, so what did he say then?" I asked, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I _was_ confident in our plan but if I was being really honest with myself, which I didn't really want to be right now, I also had that looming concern in the back of my mind: how long would this freedom last even if we managed to exile Jacob from Forks? A year? Three years? If I was thinking this, how could I be mad at Edward for actually acting on this fear and trying to eradicate it? Oh right, because he didn't say a damn thing to me about doing this all while getting beaten to a pulp in the process….

He started fidgeting, shaking his knee and running a hand through his hair – which when combined signified how anxious he really was. Separately, I knew these actions were nothing, just nervous habits, but combined was signified how uneasy he actually was. He looked away from me and down at our interlocked hands; he was trying to figure out what to say. Edward opened his mouth a couple times, as if to say something, but always shut it and stayed mute.

The silence was driving me nuts. If he had justification for what he did, I wanted to hear it, _now_. He needed to just spit it out.

He started shifting around in his seat now as I stared at him. I nudged his foot - he may have said kicked – the one place he didn't seem to be in pain to expedite things. I was losing my patience.

"Okay," he muttered, looking at me and moved his foot away from mine. "We were in the midst of the fight; both of us saying things to rile the other one up. A lot of things were said but I wouldn't be able to repeat what either of us said verbatim now if I tried. I didn't say anything that wasn't true... just things I knew would only piss him off more. What he said was the tipping point, though – and I _do_ remember that clearly. He had pinned me to the ground and told me with absolute conviction that he was never going to let you go. That he would never let me _have_ you; that I couldn't have you - like you were his possession. The way he was saying it and the look in his eyes… I didn't doubt for a second that he was joking around or over exaggerating: he meant it with every fiber of his being," he explained.

I looked at him blankly, expecting more, but nothing else came out of his mouth. "That was it?" I shrieked; I tried to stay calm but that wasn't happening. "Edward, he's said all this shit before - you've _heard_ him say it. This isn't any fucking different!" I sighed in frustration and broke free of his grasp. I was now running both my hands through my hair: I felt like pulling it out.

"Bella, this _was_ different; you weren't there. You didn't _see_ him, you didn't _hear_ him – he was _unhinged_; way past the point I'd ever heard him before. He was resolute and desperate: he would do whatever he had to, to make sure we weren't together. He wasn't just saying this and it wasn't an idle threat: he meant it. I don't know what else I can tell you to convince you – ask Jasper, he heard it. Shit, he saw how nuts Jake got; he can vouch that I'm not over exaggerating. After hearing this and seeing how he reacted Bella, I knew I was doing the right thing. I didn't care what happened to me: I'd take a beating or whatever the consequences, to get him away from you and out of our lives _for good_. I wasn't, and _will not_, risk anything else happening to you," he said grabbing my hands again and pulling me closer to him.

Now _I_ was silent as I absorbed everything he just said. This final, impassioned statement seemed to drain all his energy. I let him sit and recover for a while, holding me, as I mulled over what was said. Edward wasn't one to over exaggerate, even when it came to Jacob, which gave me a lot to consider. I was still mad at him, and I probably would be for quite a while, but I believed what he said… or at least believe that _Edward_ believed what he was saying. He thought I was in harm's way and I couldn't fault him too much for doing something when he truly believed that I was in danger. I would have done the exact same thing for him. If I thought, for one second that Edward would be put in some kind of danger, I don't care what I promised him or anyone else, I would do anything within my power to make sure that danger was put down for good. It took me a while, over half an hour, sitting there in almost a comatose state to come to this conclusion.

The only thing that still bugged me was that Edward became so resolute in his conviction only _after_ he had gone behind my back and arranged all of this. There wasn't anything that really prompted this. He hadn't heard Jacob say this beforehand – it was all premeditated _before_ Jacob's breakdown… and I didn't know how quickly I could just get over _that_.

As I looked at him, though, all I could think about was how much of a beating he just took – regardless of the motivation. The anger subsided and my concern for his wellbeing took over: comfort-mode Bella was now in full effect. His left eye was basically swollen shut and had already turned a dark purple while the deep gash on his lip was puffy and still bleeding; he'd probably need stitches. His entire face and neck was battered, littered with minor scrapes and some serious bruising all while being swollen. He looked like hell and this was only his face! I hated to think what the rest of him looked like….

"Take off your shirt," I ordered, shifting my focus to his well being. I desperately wanted to know how badly hurt he was everywhere else now. I didn't what triggered this sudden, radical shift but I needed to know: everything else could wait.

Edward didn't move and just stared at me blankly, confused over my abrupt shift.

"You heard me: take it off. I want to see what else you've done to yourself," I told him again, standing up and lifting his shirt over his head.

"Bella, I'm fine; don't worry about it," he answered, grabbing his shirt and pulling in the opposite direction.

"Edward, shut up," I yelled at him. "You are not fucking fine! Have you taken a look in the mirror? Your god damn mouth is dripping all over the floor, your eye is swollen shut and your entire face is purple! Does that _sound _like someone who is fine to you? Cause you sure as hell don't look fine to me! And for that reason, you're going to take your shirt off right now so I can see what else you've done to yourself!" I barked, almost on the brink of tears and shaking. My emotions were totally out of control and in overdrive which was so unlike me. I was _always_ clear headed and focused but this had me totally shaken up. This was probably the most traumatic experience I'd ever gone through: seeing someone I loved in this kind of fragile and incapacitated state.

"Alright," he said in a soothing voice, trying to calm me down. "But it probably looks worse than it actually is," he continued in a muffled voice as the shirt went over his head.

I gasped, stumbling backwards, as he unveiled what his shirt had been covering up. I was almost positive my eyes had bulged out of my head, like cartoons did; I couldn't believe what I was seeing. His _entire_ left side was bruised - deep purples and reds with some superficial cuts; I thought I could even make out a couple of his ribs. There was not _one part_ of his torso that wasn't bruised. I was in pain just looking at him. My eyes darted around the rest of him; carefully inspecting what other damage had been done. There was a lot of bruising on his right side, a couple looked like they were the receiving end of some kicks, but they were _nothing_ in comparison to his left. Just looking at Edward made me shudder.

"You're pressing charges," I told him adamantly before I started yelling for Esme. I didn't care if she got pissed cause I woke up the baby, she needed to see this. I wasn't going to be the only one freaking out. My mind was going a mile a minute trying to figure out badly he was hurt. I couldn't think clearly right now if I tried - I just kept yelling for Esme.

"Bella, shhh, it's alright; I feel fine. I'm really…" he began, grabbing my hand and pulling me closer to him.

I let him pull me close and then reached over and ever-so-gently touched the least bruised area of his right side, I was too scared to touch anywhere on his left in fear that even the most gentle touch would break him. The finger I placed near his collar bone caused him to wince and pull away immediately. "You really want to complete that thought?" I cut him off while glaring at him. "_You're NOT FINE!"_

"Well we did have a fight; I am going to look a bit beat up," he stated innocently enough, with a yawn.

Shit, did he have a concussion too? It wouldn't surprise me if he did but that was something I hadn't even considered.

I took his arm and pulled him in front of his full length mirror. Now, _his_ eyes bulged when he saw how he looked – he must not have looked at himself in a mirror or underneath his shirt. He turned a little to see how far the bruises extended on his back – which basically stretched all the way across. He looked stunned; genuinely surprised that he looked this bad. He inspected his side, pressing down a little, wincing every time he did this. Each time he pressed on a different part of his body, he was shocked that it hurt that much. An excess of adrenaline had to have been going through his system in order for him to not be feeling the full effects of the fight.

I thought I was fine but I started getting lightheaded; I realized I had been holding my breath. I took some breaths, getting air back into my system, which made me feel a lot better and calmed me down. I surveyed his torso again, trying to detect any little thing that was different due to the flight for the police report. The more breaths I took and the more I focused in on inspected him, the calmer I somehow became. I was still worried - beyond belief, in fact and wanted to get him to a hospital – but I was able to think a lot clearer now.

"These are not bruises from a normal fight Edward – even if he did push you into an open car door. It looks like he hit you with a bat," I told him but wasn't able to continue my thought since Esme walked in.

"What Bella?" she asked, slightly exacerbated before stopping dead in her tracks when she looked at Edward. "Oh my god; what did Jake do to you?"

Edward still said nothing and just kept staring at himself in the mirror. He had zoned out and wasn't moving – he just kept staring at his left side. It seemed like he had slipped into shock.

Esme came over to us to inspect him better. "Has he said anything to you? These aren't bruises caused by a punch," she asked me.

I shook my head. "He's told me enough. It sounded like Jacob didn't hold back, which even included throwing him into an open car door. Edward kept trying to brush past that part, saying he just grazed the door, but there's no way someone who got pushed into a door has those kinds of wounds. My best guess is Jacob threw him into the open door, probably on purpose, and then kicked and punched him in that same spot which explains why the left side's bruises are so much darker than those on the right. He kept claiming that he was fine until I dragged him in front of the mirror which was when he went catatonic. I think he really thought that he was really okay and that we were overreacting. Carlisle needs to get here _now_ – it's possible that he has a concussion and internal bleeding," I advised. I didn't understand how I had said all of that so understated and calmly – in my head I was still freaking out.

"Alright…. that's a lot to take in. I'll go call Carlisle again and see what I can do to get another doctor there. Hell or high water Carlisle will be here in 20 minutes and then he can evaluate him. Try to snap him out of it and get him to come to," Esme said utterly concerned before heading out of the room in search of a phone.

"Edward?" I called out, hoping hearing his name would snap him out of it but nothing happened. I tried his name again, this time while touching his face. Again: nothing.

I thought about what else I could do to get a reaction out of him that wouldn't cause him pain. I scanned the room looking for inspiration but all I could come up with was throwing a pillow at him which wouldn't work. I glanced down, spotting a large red spot on his jeans that I hadn't noticed before. I could tell right away that it wasn't dirt.

I unbuckled his belt and started working at taking off his pants – of course today he had to wear button fly jeans. Once I managed to undo all the buttons, which was much harder when the other person was standing, the jeans easily slid to the ground and unveiled a huge bleeding gash on his left leg. Dirt had managed to get into the wound and needed to be cleaned out immediately. Actually, he had dirt everywhere including caked onto his hair and mouth. There was only one solution: he needed a shower. Maybe that would make him come to.

I took his hand and directed him towards the shower. I thought it was going to take more effort to move him but Edward followed me with ease, even though his eyes were still glazed over. I turned his shower on, allowing for it to heat up. Once the water had heated, I stripped off his remaining clothes and guided him into the shower with me following behind. I was worried to leave in the shower on his own in case he did have a concussion or just collapsed. I probably should have at least taken off my shoes but I wasn't thinking about myself here. The warm water ran down his body, washing away all the dirt and grime but not any of the little rocks that had wedged themselves into the open wounds. I didn't apply any soap to him, knowing how painful it would be when it reached an open wound.

I tried to stay in the corner of the shower, out of the direct spray of water, but it was pointless. I was soaked: he had an extra large, rain shower head, so it wasn't like I could turn the nozzle away and only have it on him. I looked him over again. I thought with the dirt gone that he wouldn't look quite as banged up but I was wrong. The dirt had managed to cover up how deep the bruises really were; they were _all_ a deep purple and red: there were no superficial bruises. I really, _really_ hoped that there was no internal bleeding cause it sure as hell looked like it. I continued my inspection, making my way down to his leg. The gash was still bleeding but not as bad as before: the water lessened the blood flow. It looked like a fairly deep wound that would need stitches. I started to feel myself hyperventilating thinking about Edward's condition. I moved closer, under the direct water stream, to calm myself down which worked immediately.

"Bella, why are you in the shower with me when I'm not wearing anything and you're fully dressed?" Edward asked, confused.

Well, at least he had come to and was talking again. "You were in shock and I couldn't think of anything else to snap you out of it. The shower seemed like the most logical choice," I told him rationally.

"Oh, okay," he said absorbing that. "But why are you fully dressed?" he asked again.

"I didn't really stop to think about that Edward," I told him, slightly annoyed.

"It might have been a good idea for you to at least take off your shoes," he stated, grinning.

"This isn't funny," I snapped at him.

"It is a little bit," he retorted, amused.

At least he hadn't lost his sense of inappropriate comedic timing…

I reached around him to turn off the shower since there was no need for it to be on any longer. "Clearly, you've come to. Get dried off and changed: some basketball shorts and a loose t-shirt would be ideal," I told him, walking out of the shower.

"Aye, aye captain," he replied, rolling his eyes. "You might want to change into something too," he said handing me a dry towel.

"I'm fine," I told him but took the towel as I squeaked out of the bathroom due to the water in my shoes.

"I don't think so. You can either borrow some of my stuff or Rose's but you know Esme's not going to be very happy with you dripping all over the floor," he commented smugly.

As if on cue, Esme's voice came through the intercom system, which I had completely forgotten was there. "Bella, can you get him down here. I'm on the phone with the police and they need to ask Edward some questions. Thank you."

I sighed aloud, irritated he was right, and began rummaging through his drawers for something for us both to wear. I couldn't be bothered going into Rose's room for myself: I'd wear whatever crossed my hands first. I was still so flustered with the whole situation that even though Edward's drawers were hyper organized – bordering on OCD behavior – it took me forever to find something that would work. I kept opening all of the wrong drawers: jeans, polos, sweaters…all the crap I _didn't_ need. When I finally made my way to the workout clothes, I took the first thing I saw. I threw some basketball shorts and a plain grey tee at him and took some sweatpants and a tank top for myself. He easily pulled on the shorts but seemed to have a little more difficulty with the t-shirt.

"Let me help you with your shirt, sit down," I told him, as I quickly changed into Edward's stuff, plopping my drenched clothes on the bathroom floor.

He did as he was told and sat down on his bed. He slowly put his arms up, wincing with every movement, no longer trying to hold in the pain.

"Do you need anything else?" I asked, helping him off the bed. "Why don't you lean against me as we walk downstairs?"

He shook his head, "No, I'm okay. It looks like you could use a sweatshirt: you're shivering," he stated standing up _very_ slowly from the bed.

I didn't feel cold but when I looked down I had goosebumps everywhere. "I must just be cold from the shower – I'll just grab a sweatshirt," I replied, pulling my wet hair on top of my head into a high bun. If I was going to warm up I needed to keep my damp hair off the back of my neck which would just get my shirt wet. "There's one in the other room that I can get on our way out but lean on me so we can walk down the stairs," I directed.

"Bella, I'm perfectly capable of walking all by myself; it doesn't hurt to walk," he retorted, quickly walking out of the room and grabbing the sweatshirt before I could get to it. In the process of trying to prove his stupid point, though, he further proved mine: that he needed assistance. By the time he got to the couch he looked utterly exhausted and needed to rest against the arm of the couch for support.

I snatched the sweatshirt from him and threw it on. "Thank you," I told him with a small smile. "Can you just hold on to me, though – it'll make _me_ feel better, okay?" I replied in a softer tone, hoping this angle would make him more acquiescent. He would completely wear himself out just to make his point – stupid fucking pride.

He mulled it over and then placed his arm around my shoulder. We took a couple steps before I felt his weight shift onto me, using me as a crutch.

As we made our way down the stairs Jasper's door opened and he and Alice emerged. "Why the fuck are you wearing that?" Alice asked.

"She decided to take a shower," Edward answered.

"Okay… so what happened to all your clothes?" Jasper inquired further.

"Those decided to take a shower too," Edward answered again with a smirk.

"Shut up, all of you; let's just get downstairs and wait for Carlisle to come," I hissed and started making my way down the stairs, Edward in tow.

The other two followed in silence but I knew that wouldn't last. "FYI, you've looked better: it looks like his clothes are swallowing you," Alice snidely commented; as if I should have taken a moment to have considered what my best wardrobe choice was.

I didn't say a word back but heard the three of them silently giggling behind me.

Three Weeks Later

"Can the six of you pose nicely for once?" Mrs. Brandon requested, holding a camera and waiting for us to settle down.

"And Edward, stop moving! I'm not going to re-bandage you again today. You need to let you're ribs heal," Esme scolded.

"Yea, what she said," I agreed, shooting him a look.

He leaned down; trying to kiss the side of my head, but my stupid, ugly, graduation cap was in the way. "Okay I'll be good," he promised, smirking, which caused me to smirk too.

"FOCUS! On three!" mom yelled while snapping her fingers, trying to get all of our attention. Seriously, sometimes getting all of us to focus on the same thing could be like herding cats. "ONE…TWO…THREE!"

We all stopped and smiled for the cameras. It was our joint graduation party, so we wanted to get the show on the road. Unlike most of our joint gatherings, which were usually held at Emmett's house, this one was held at the Cullens': mostly due to the fact that Carlisle had instituted a mini hospital here so if Edward needed something he could easily be treated. The fact they had the biggest place also helped since it seemed like everyone in the state of Washington had been invited to our party.

It had been almost three weeks since his fight with Jacob and Edward was still heavily bandaged up. He wasn't allowed to engage in much activity, aside from walking and more recently driving, but I guess that was to be expected with one cracked rib, 3 bruised ones, a sprained wrist and a bruised trachea. Luckily, _very _luckily Carlisle said, there hadn't been any internal bleeding or damaged organs - not even a concussion. Everything else, including the giant gash on Edward's leg, were just superficial injuries which needed time to heal or simple stitches. Looking at him that day, though, _nothing_ looked superficial.

The rest of Edward had healed nicely with the bulk of the bruises gone: the bruises on his left side were the only remaining. His face was completely fine. There was barely a scar where they had to sew up the cut in his mouth and the little one by his eyebrow. With the help of Dr. Zafrina, one of the most gifted plastic surgeons in the country and Carlisle's old friend from medical school, Edward's face went back to normal fast. Esme had been adamant about that: she knew everything else would take time but she wanted his face back to normal by graduation. These past three weeks he had a more intense beauty regimen than I did, including having a dermatologist and plastic surgeon on call 24/7. She was going a bit overboard about all this graduation stuff.

"Mom, are we done now?" Rose asked waiting to move until Esme gave the okay.

She looked at the proof from the professional photographer's camera and then nodded with a smile, "It's perfect! Now, go socialize and have a good time."

Everyone seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief, thrilled to be set free. We made our way towards the main house, where all the guests were arriving. The entire backyard was decorated in a mixture of colors for the respective schools we would be going to in the fall: me at UCLA, Em and Edward at Stanford, Rosalie at Harvard, Jasper at MIT, and Alice at Brown. For as many colors as there were, surprisingly, they didn't clash. We set ourselves up towards the entrance of the party at an MIT table so that we could greet the guests as they came in.

"So Emmett, how's the team looking? We're expecting a big season next year with you on the team," Mr. Stanely, Jessica's dad, stated as he cornered the Emmett, Edward and I. He was a big time alumni donor and a _huge_ football fan.

"Thanks but I probably won't be playing all that much, freshman and all," Em responded humbly.

He shook his head in agreement but everyone knew that the reason Emmett had chosen Stanford was because they were planning on grooming him to be their star quarterback.

"Yea, it's gonna be great! The three will be hanging out all the time: we'll pull all nighters, you'll come to my sorority parties and we'll head out to University Ave – it's going to be great!" Jessica chimed in. Due to her being a legacy, she basically had automatic admission into the school – shocking since she was _such_ a braniac…. "It'll just suck that you'll be missing all the fun Bella," she said, with the fakest pout I'd ever seen. After almost dating a year she was still trying to make a move on Edward: it was just sad.

"Well I had considered it, since it wasn't my _only_ option and getting a fairly substantial _academic_ scholarship," I answered her with a saccharinely sweet smile, "but in the end UCLA was just a better fit. Don't worry, though; I'm _positive_ I'll be visiting all the time so there will be no need to miss me too much."

She narrowed her eyes at me but said absolutely nothing because she didn't know how to respond. After a minute of trying to stare me down, Jessica stomped away and went to socialize with people on the complete opposite side of where I was.

"Well that will be difficult," Mr. Stanly continued, ignoring his daughter's minor tantrum altogether. "Long distance relationships can be tough."

"It's just an hour plane ride and dad goes between San Francisco and LA all the time – so I can just grab a ride with him. Besides, they'll be coming down plenty as well for football games and just to hang out. We're not too concerned," I answered with a smile, leaning over and giving Edward a light kiss on the lips. I heard Jessica groan in frustration in the background. "I'm more shocked between these two," I said motioning between Em and Rose, "cross country, different timezones… big change."

We hadn't been making this easy for them since they decided where they were going; it was just too fun and too easy to taunt them. One week without sex for Emmett and Rosalie was like a lifetime, now they were going to go without for months, or at least weeks. It was going to be a-maz-ing: they were going to be miserable.

"It'll be fine," Emmett replied automatically. That was been his mantra about the two of them being separated. Maybe he was trying to convince himself?

"I'm sure it will be," Edward answered with a chuckle. "You and Rose are both so reasonable and understanding…"

I had to bite my lip from busting out laughing.

"Excuse me, I need to borrow these two," Jasper stated, walking over to us.

"No problem, I'm sure I'll see the two of you later," he told Edward and me before turning his attention back towards Em. "So let's talk offense…" Mr Stanley began as Jazz led us towards a more isolated area. Emmett kept glancing towards us desperately – he _hated_ talking with Jessica's dad.

"What's up?" I asked Jasper coolly when we were finally alone. I still wasn't over _him_ lying about this whole Edward and Jacob fiasco. In fact, I had only begun speaking with Jazz this past week; I told him it was his graduation present. Edward experienced a little of this but there was only so much silence treatment you could give someone in the hospital without feeling like a total asshole.

"I don't want to alarm you but Billy Black just arrived," Jasper explained, clearly worried over this.

"Yea, I know; I invited him," I explained.

Jasper looked at me like I had a third eye in the middle of my forehead. Edward already knew about his invitation and wasn't, at all, shocked that Billy had actually shown up. It also didn't hurt that Edward had seen the guest list before everyone else and Billy had RSVP'd.

"He was invited…" Jasper stammered, totally perplexed.

"Yea," I answered him.

"So…he's supposed to be here then?" Jasper asked again, confused.

"Yes," I replied again.

"Why?" he questioned.

"We're keeping things civil with Billy: he feels awful for what has happened and he and my dad still have to do business together," I explained.

"And it also looks like there are no hard feelings against him… just Jake," Edward elaborated. "Basically, it makes us look a hell of a lot better."

"Ahh, keeping your enemies closer," Alice said, springing up from nowhere; her ninja-like stealthiness was getting better and better.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Edward asked, jumping back a little. It was always so funny to me when she surprised him: he was so much bigger than her so when she got the upper hand it was hilarious. Also, he was never of fan of things that jumped out at him – scaredy cat.

I ignored Edward and just continued with my explanation. "In a way I guess. It's definitely better to have Billy sympathizing with us but that wasn't the only reason I invited him. He's never had a bad thing to say about either of us, even with Jacob was in the hospital, and he's supported all of this 100 percent: the bottom line is he just wants his son to get better. I'd feel like an asshole if I didn't invite him," I stated. Even after all of this, I still didn't have a bad thing to say about Billy Black.

Due to the severity of the accusations against Jacob and Edward's weeklong stint in the hospital the police had gotten involved. They brought up charges against Jake for aggravated assault, due to the use of the car door being used as a weapon, narcotics possession and use, and stalking; there were some other charges but these were the biggies. Getting cops involved was never in our original plan, it was only supposed to be a threat, but after what had happened it was inevitable. I ended up pressing charges against stalking and being drugged – that was unavoidable – but Edward refused to press charges for aggravated assault knowing it would lead to real jail time. Edward absolutely refused to say that Jacob threw him into the car door on purpose and kept claiming that it was an accident. The lawyers and the police kept pressing him, knowing full well that Edward's injuries couldn't have been caused by "accident", but Edward refused to confirm. Edward kept claiming to everyone, mostly his parents and Billy, that he wasn't pressing charges because he didn't want Jacob to have to have to go to jail but I knew that wasn't the case. His real rationale over not pressing charges was that Billy would be indebted to him if he was able to keep Jacob out of jail. I had to agree, this did have merit.

Instead of aggravated assault, Jacob was just charged with battery, for both myself and Edward, along with the litany of the other charges. Billy made sure that the bruises Jacob had given me were included in the battery charges even though that was something I didn't, particularly, want; he kept saying that Jacob had to account for _all_ of his actions.

Since it was Jacob's first violation and he had a damn good lawyer, he basically left with a slap on the wrist. Jacob had to do a week in a Martha Stewart type of jail facility, basically just lounging around and working out, and _a lot_ of community service time. Hopefully he realized that if this had happened to anyone else it'd be more like 5-7 years in a real prison but I didn't know if even this would make Jacob think of anyone except for himself.

These were just the sanctions implemented by the state: Billy's rules were much more severe. In fact, Billy thought the judge was being too lenient on Jacob. Billy wanted everything, including the kitchen sink, to be thrown at his son to teach him a lesson. _He_ was the one who wanted Jacob to stay at least a week in jail (the judge was initially going to say time served) and basically demanded restraining orders placed against Jacob on Edward's and my behalf. Jacob wasn't allowed to come anywhere near either of us, our families or our friends for the next five years or he would be going straight to real jail this time. Stalking restraining orders were much stricter than all the others. In addition to that, Billy was enforcing mandatory detox and anger management at one of those no frills rehab centers _for the next year_. Jacob wasn't happy about this, from what I've heard; he was going to have to talk a year off of school to do this because the facility was in Utah or somewhere like that.

And if Billy didn't see the results he was hoping for, Jacob was going to be cut off. No money, no college tuition, no cell phone, no nothing… Billy wasn't fucking around. This had been the last straw and what forced Billy to open his eyes and see how messed up Jacob really was. He wanted his son back but, unfortunately, the only way to do that was through some tough love. And the only thing that that Jacob took seriously was his funding. Take the money away, and in Jacob's opinion, you were nothing. Billy took away everything, even revoking his trust fund: Jacob literally had nothing. Of course if Billy saw that Jacob really had changed and was a different person he would get everything back but only time would tell if that would happen.

"Bella, we better go say hello; our parents are already talking with him and trying to signal for us to go over," Edward commented. He was on the same wavelength as me: that Billy wasn't the enemy here, Jacob was. We had won; beat Jacob at his own damn game. If he wanted to come back at us, we'd be ready. But as long as we had Billy on our side and he controlled Jacob's funding, we were untouchable.

**i hope you all liked it - i couldn't be happier with how this has turned out. i'd love to hear your thoughts on it.**

**this was the last official chapter. there will be an epilogue, one chapter i believe, but i'm not sure exactly when it will be posted. i'm hoping by the end of summer if not sooner.**

**i've had a great time writing this and i hope you all have enjoyed it. i will be working on another story, which i hope you'll take a look at when i finally post it, but i won't up anything up until i get the first few chapters done so it might be a while. **

**thanks for everything and support XOXO**


	42. Epilogue

**hello** **everyone! this is it - the final chapter. i appologize for this taking so long, have been out of the country for a while. hope you all enjoy!**

EPOV

7 Years Later

"Edward, _hurry up_; Rose will kill me if I'm late!" Bella yelled, coming into the room yet again hoping to rush me along.

If she just stopped checking on me every five seconds I would've been ready 20 minutes ago but she was stressing me out. "Just another minute - then we can go. You're just nervous cause you have to make a speech tonight," I replied calmly, adjusting my tie.

She rolled her eyes, blowing a hair out of her face. "I'm not nervous," she snapped but then paused to adjust her tone, realizing how it came out. "I just don't need the fucking wrath of bridezilla; since she's gotten engaged Rose has become a raging bitch."

"_Since_ she's gotten engaged?" I muttered under my breath.

Bella gave me a stern look for that one; she wasn't amused. "None of that tonight; please, _do not,_ antagonize her."

"I'm her brother – that's what I'm here for," I responded with a smirk.

"Well, I'm her Co Maid of Honor and that's what _I'm_ here: to keep sarcastic fuckers like you in check," she smirked back, giving me a kiss. "I'm supposed to there to keep her calm not abet you in riling her up. So if we could be on time that would really help. Honestly, I don't know how your mom puts up with her. We're across the fucking country and she's been calling me at all hours of the night for months. I can only imagine what she's been like 10 minutes away - she's probably dropping by the house whenever she damn well pleases," she exclaimed, plopping down on the bed and watching me finish up.

"From what I've heard it hasn't been easy: Dad says that whenever they're discussing wedding matters a giant martini is always present," I laughed. I was finally done; I turned around allowing Bella to inspect me. "Anything?" I asked with arched eyebrows.

"Perfect as usual," she answered with a smile and another quick peck. "Now, let's go!" she said grabbing my arm and dragging me out of the hotel room.

"Bella, we're just going downstairs," I stated as she pulled me into the elevator. "We'll be there with plenty of time to spare." Thank god the rehearsal dinner was at our hotel; otherwise, we really wouldn't have actually made it.

The wedding was being held at our house and everyone had been kicked out for the past week which had been was a giant pain in the ass from what I had been told, _repeatedly_, by everyone in the family who wasn't Rosalie. Rose didn't want anyone interfering with the wedding prep which meant that the Cullen household had been exiled to a hotel. To be honest, though, that couldn't have worked out better for me since I had my own surprise planned for tonight.

I had been trying to figure out a way to get the two of us back to this particular hotel for the past four months but something always tipped Bella off, making her suspicious. When I was going to propose, I didn't want her to have a clue it was coming and tonight seemed perfect: she'd never suspect a thing since it was Rose and Emmett's day. This wasn't exactly _ideal_ with their wedding happening a couple days after the proposal but I'd make it work. I patted my inner pocket; double checking to make sure the ring was there.

The elevator doors chimed open and Rosalie stood in its entrance blocking our exit. "You're late," she scolded with her hands on her hips.

Bella shot me an I-told-you-so look. "We're ten minutes early," I stated, glancing at my watch.

"Which is five minutes late," Rose continued: I did not understand her logic.

"I'm sorry Rose; we got here as quickly as possible," Bella sincerely apologized, dropping my hand and following after Rosalie into the hotel's restaurant.

"You're gonna need this," Jasper said, placing a scotch in my hand. "She's _outa_ control; mom's a fucking saint."

"Mom's a what?" a small voice asked from behind us causing both of us to jump. "You said a bad word: five dollars!" she said with enthusiasm, holding out her hand which Jasper begrudgingly gave to her. "I've already made $200 since last night! Mom's been swearing… _a lot_."

Jasper and I chuckled. "Has Alice been teaching you how to do that?" I asked Riley.

"Have I been teaching her how to do what?" Alice innocently asked, coming from nowhere as well. "I don't like your accusatory tone," she continued while she and Riley exchanged a knowing smile.

"Can the both of you stop doing that?" I asked in a slightly raised tone, causing both of them to giggle. "Riley you look very pretty tonight; did Rosalie pick out your dress?"

"Thank you," she replied with a huge smile and a nod before giving me a hug. We barely saw them anymore since Bella and I started med school at John Hopkins. "You're so big now!" I exclaimed.

"Well maybe if the two of you came around a little more none of this would seem like such a shock," Jasper interjected, taking a sip from his drink.

"We see each other a lot Jazzy; we FaceTime!" Riley told Jasper. I gave her a high five for having my back.

"It's a little thing called med school and studying round the clock, maybe you've heard of it..." I joked. "You know, not all of us can be genius engineers and breeze through undergrad and graduate programs without studying."

"I know, it's a gift," he glibly replied.

"Ah hem," Alice said clearing her throat and bringing back our attention to her.

"Sorry, sorry - I forgot you must be the center of attention at all times," I teased. "You look lovely as well, munchkin," I told her with a smirk, making her beam.

"ALICE!" Rosalie yelled from inside the restaurant causing us all to jump.

"_Christ_…."she exclaimed, startled, "the master beckons. If only all her guests saw this _lovely_ personality… Come on Riley." She gave Jasper and I a fleeting look before grabbing Riley's hand and heading into the trenches.

"So are _you_ ready for tonight?" Jazz asked once the coast was clear.

I had only told him and Rosalie about the proposal a couple months ago. I originally only planned on telling Rose - mostly because if I hadn't she'd kill me on the spot for detracting from her big day - but with their damn twinness Jasper would have somehow figure it out. So I thought I'd beat him to the punch and just tell him. I was impressed that both of them had managed to keep this to themselves and not tell Emmett or Alice.

"Can you keep your voice down," I shushed him, my anxiety rising over someone overhearing.

"No one can hear us, Mr. Paranoid," he answered with an eye roll and a swig of his drink. "But seriously, do you need help with anything?"

I panicked for a moment, patting my breast pocket again, before feeling the outline of the ring box. This must have been the fiftieth time I'd done that to make sure I had the ring. I let out a relieved sigh. Logically, I knew the ring couldn't mysteriously just fall out of my pocket but somehow logic just wasn't enough. "As long as everything's good to go in the courtyard I'm fine," I replied.

"Last Rosalie checked, which was half an hour ago, everything was ready," he stated.

"You two assholes planning on coming in or were you planning on hiding out in the hallway all night long?" Emmett said walking towards us. "I've been with your mom, my mom, Alice, the wedding planner, and Rosalie for the past 3 days straight – I need some testosterone. I'm trying to be the supportive and involved fiancé but there's only so much I can take! "

"You mean you need to be around some non-crazy people?" Jasper suggested.

He shot him a dirty look but then nodded in agreement. "Do you know what they asked me yesterday: which color I prefered blush or pearl blush?" Em continued.

"Well blush obviously; pearl blush is obviously so déclassé," I responded totally deadpan.

"_How the fuck did you know that!?_ That's exactly what Rose said – along with some other choice words - when I said pearl blush! She ran out of the room crying saying I didn't know her at all and how could she marry someone who didn't know her. It took Esme 40 minutes to get her to come out of the bathroom and then she wouldn't even look at me for the rest of the day. And then, all those crazy people in there," he said pointing towards the door, "looked at me like I had just murdered their puppy. How the fuck am I supposed to know which color to choose: they look the exact same! Pearl blush and blush, who's ever heard of colors like that. Colors are green, blue, yellow…_not_ pearl blush!" Emmett continued to rant.

"Em, I think you're starting to lose it a little. Just take a couple breaths; they all just get _very_ into the wedding thing. Unless you're James, you're just not going to get it," Jasper suggested holding out his drink to him in an attempt to settle him down.

"Dude, I was kidding before. Honestly, I didn't know; I have no idea what the difference is either," I answered him calmly.

"This is exactly why I won't even attempt to plan anything for our wedding. I'm not even going to try to play the supportive fiancé because that will just lead to even more headaches and arguments. Alice and I have created a system that's been working perfectly: she does her things and I do mine," Jasper explained.

Their wedding had been in the works for what seemed like forever. He had proposed a year and a half before Emmett had to Rose and technically should have been married twice already. Invitations had been printed twice and almost sent out each time but just before they were scheduled to be mailed Alice would move the date because her dress wasn't finished. She was designing it and kept changing her mind. Finally, Alice's mom put her foot down and told her the wedding was going forward, with or without Alice, two years from now which I thought was more than reasonable. Personally, this would have driven me nuts but Jasper just rolled with the punches; he never minded one bit. He knew this was never about her having cold feet, which was what her mom seemed to think, but actually about the damn dress.

"What exactly do you do?" Emmett asked him honestly with eager eyes. He looked like a kid waiting to talk to Santa for the first time.

"I'm in charge of the music and suit preferences for myself and my groomsmen and that's it. So don't piss me off or I'll make you look like a moron in a bright orange suit," he said with a smirk. "Occasionally, Alice will ask my preference on something and then of course I will always go with the one she wants – it's pretty easy to pick up on her preference because she's about as subtle as an elephant in an empty room. My motto: happy wife, happy life."

"I don't think you can use that saying quite yet," I quipped.

"It still applies," he answered back.

"Emmett!" Rosalie hissed as she stuck her head outside of the door, "guests will be arriving soon, get in here. We need to take pictures and get things together."

"What _things_ do you need to get together," Jasper whispered to Em so Rose couldn't hear. She had her don't-fuck-with-me eyes going and we all knew better than to say anything to that.

"I have no idea," Emmett whispered back, terror stricken. It was clear he was going through a mental checklist of possible things that he was supposed to do and, potentially, forgot about. "I love her and in a couple days she'll be back to normal: that's what I keep telling myself."

"Yea, until she gets pregnant," I whispered absentmindedly which garnished a reprimanding look from Jasper and even more terrified look from Emmett.

"_Dear Jesus, this is gonna happen again?!_" Em asked.

"You assholes coming or what?" she asked when she saw none of us were moving. We glanced at each other and then at Emmett who gave us a pleading look to keep our mouths shut and not further awaken The Beast.

The Beast is what Emmett had, "endearingly", dubbed Rosalie's wedding personality. She was generally fine, or as fine as a hyper OCD, generally bitchy, bride could be, but there were certain things that set her off and she turned into a raging lunatic. I overheard Bella once trying to calm Rosalie down after Esme had told her that she could not get the centerpiece flowers she wanted because shipping them to Forks from some remote island in the middle of nowhere would cost more than the wedding itself. To any sane person, this was totally reasonable but not to Rosalie: she went ape shit nuts and _would not_ calm down. That was the first time I saw The Beast rear her ugly head. Jasper was privy to more of this behavior because he and Alice lived closer and I would hear things from him which I thought were absolutely ludicrous. Needless to say, I did not want to witness The Beast first hand.

"Of course," Jasper told his sister gently.

Emmett entered the room first and then Jasper and I but Rosalie prohibited me from entering. "I'm confused, didn't you just tell us to come in?" I asked.

"He is," she said pointing to Jazz, "not you. You're doing this now."

"What?" I asked just as terror stricken as Emmett just was. I thought I had more time – I _needed_ more time. I hadn't mentally prepared myself enough.

"I said you could do it tonight but did you think I was really going to let you do it in the middle of _my_ party when everyone was here and steal focus?" she asked as if I should have figured this out months ago.

"I thought the end of the night would better, when people were leaving, then no one would even be aware that something happened," I countered.

"What, at 3 am? After she been entertaining all night, exhausted and probably drunk? Yea, that sounds like the most romantic proposal I've ever heard of," she said flippantly and getting The Beast look in her eye.

I looked to Jasper for backup but even he looked at me like I was the dumbass.

"Alright, alright… I suppose I can do it now," I responded, almost automatically.

"Good, cause I already told Bella that you needed her help to go and get more votive candles," she explained.

"Votive candles?" was all I said, processing all of this.

Rosalie rolled her eyes at me. "Yes, votive candles," she answered back slowly like I was too dumb to understand. "They are the only thing not kept in the main storage area at the front of the hotel. The wedding coordinator placed all of _my_ candles in the backup area because main storage area was too full due to the hotel keeping their tacky rechargeable votives in the main area dues to their new _green initiative_," she added with an eye roll. "Bella knows where to look for them. There are a lot to pick up so you are there for the heavy lifting, got it? That is the back story: take it and run with it. I do not actually need the votives, so don't worry about grabbing them after your proposal," she stated like she was doing me a favor. "The only way to get to the backup area is through the garden so she won't suspect anything until you walk through the doors. Everything is all riggered and ready to go – the rest is on you," she continued as if she was my drill sergeant sending me into battle for the first time.

"You have the ring right?" Jasper asked.

I patted my pockets frantically and then nodded, relieved, once I found it.

"It's incredible – almost as good as my ring," Rosalie said smugly.

Jasper just rolled his eyes. "Everything will go great, just take a deep breath and relax," Jasper advised with a slap on the back before heading into the rehearsal dinner. Clearly, he wasn't nervous for me in the least.

Rosalie's demeanor shifted. "Seriously, you know what her answer's going to be. She adores you, there's no way she's going to say no. Just relax, be yourself and have fun. Don't stress yourself out," she told me reassuringly with a smile before giving me a hug. The two of us were not huggers but I genuinely appreciated her assurance since she _never_ sugar coated anything for my benefit.

"Okay, you ready to go?" Bella asked as she approached before giving both of us a weird look. "Why were you hugging?"

"Just congratulating the blushing bride," I dryly responded.

"Familial obligation," Rose responded just as dryly. "Ok, go. You need to be back before all the guests start arriving, so you don't have much time," she continued going back into crazy bride mode in the blink of an eye.

Bella and I started walking in the direction of the garden as I subtly patted my pocket, yet again, checking to make sure I had the ring. I signed in relief feeling it there. Bella was talking about something as we walked but I wasn't paying attention at all – hopefully I wasn't supposed to be participating in this conversation and she was just venting. I was trying to figure out how I was going to do this. I had created a bunch of different scenarios in my head beforehand but none of them were coming to mind: I was literally drawing a blank. This _was not_ good. What if I fucked this up because the words would literally not come out of mouth? Could that even happen?

We were only a couple steps away from the garden's entrance now; I felt as if I was drenched in sweat and possibly about to have a panic attack. I wondered if Bella's noticed how much I was sweating – maybe I looked totally normal and was just internally freaking out. Or maybe I looked exactly the way I felt and she was being nice and not saying anything… No, I couldn't think that or I would totally lose my nerve. I had no idea why I was like this; I never lost my cool or really stressed out about anything. I was always the over prepared one, ready for any and everything. Every big game in high school, college exams, med school interviews, anything a person generally gets nervous about I had always kept my composure but now I was a nervous wreck. I tried to slow down, not taking as big of steps as I normally would to stall but Bella already had her handle on the door.

Shit.

A second later Bella walked through the door triggering all the lights to come on. The twinkle lights softly lit up the area so it looked like we were in the middle of some sort of enchanted forest with little stars everywhere, including above us with the garden's glass roof and it was a perfectly clear night. The gentle sounds of Someone to Watch Over Me floated throughout; Sinatra was a key player in our relationship. I was shocked that Rose and Jasper had been able to achieve this – it was my exact vision but taken to the next level. I needed to thank Rosalie for doing all of this – maybe The Beast knew what she was doing after all and there was a reason to her madness.

I stood in the doorway, watching Bella take everything in; she looked a little confused. As she walked around the garden, realization of what was going on started to hit her, especially after she realized what song was playing. "Edward?" she asked in a soft and slightly trembling voice.

She looked absolutely stunning, gazing over at me with tears welling up in her eyes. I finally stepped through the door and walked over to her. I didn't know what happened or how this occurred but I was now completely calm. I still had no clue what to say but that knot in my stomach has vanished. Maybe it would just be better not to say anything: what if no words came out when I tried to speak?

"Edward?" Bella asked again, looking slightly more confused since I still hadn't said a word.

I took her hand and headed towards the fountain – it was the only spot that had a completely unobstructed view of the entire garden. "Do you remember the first time we were here?" I asked her, almost in a pre-pubescent squeak. Apparently my voice didn't get the memo that I wasn't supposed to be nervous anymore. I coughed a few times, hoping that would get it out of my system.

I waited for a response but nothing came which caused the knot to come back.

"It was our very first Valentine's Day together," I replied, with a slightly shaky voice.

"It's exactly the same as that night," she interrupted, "Except there's no snow on the floor and it's a bit warmer since they installed a glass ceiling."

"So you do remember," I said, sighing with relief, the knot dissipating again.

"Of course, that's the night I realized I loved you," she replied with a smile.

"Yes, I believe you've mentioned that before," I said with a smirk, giving her a chaste peck. "Bella," I began and then choked: the words dried up again.

I interlaced our fingers as she traced the outline of our hands together against her lap which soothed me. I looked into her warm, tear filled, brown eyes and I just knew I could do this – that I wouldn't falter again. She deserved to hear the way I felt and what she truly meant to me.

"Bella," I continued, "there hasn't been a moment since that last time we were here, probably before that but didn't realize it, that I haven't loved you. Even when I was a dumbass eighteen year old punk, I somehow knew we were meant to be together. You are the only person I have ever loved and will ever love. I don't know who I would be today without you but I can tell you that, _that_ Edward would only be a shell of the man I am today because he wouldn't have you. You make me want to be better – you inspire me to do so. "

I got down on one knee at this point causing Bella's to completely tear up though she was desperately trying to keep it together. "I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else but you: you are the only person I want to spend the rest of my life with. You are my rock and home is wherever you are," I told her as I fumbled with my coat pocket to get the ring. After what seemed like forever, I finally managed to get it out of my pocket and open the box, preparing to get place it on Bella's finger. Bella's eyes widened evened more when she saw the ring. "I promise to love you, every since single day, forever. Will you marry me?" I finally asked with baited breath, feeling the tears begin to well up in my eyes but tried to blink them away.

"YES!" Bella shouted, holding her hand out so I could put the ring on which I very willingly did. I was on cloud nine. I popped up immediately and she sprang into my arms giving me a very impassioned and fiery kiss. When our kiss finally broke a couple minutes later she planted little kisses everywhere else along my face causing both of us to giggle. "I can't believe this just happened," she muttered more so to herself than to me. "I can't believe we're engaged, "she beamed.

"So I take it you were surprised then?" I asked.

"Shocked is more like it and ecstatic! Rosalie is going to kill you for stealing her thunder," Bella said with a smirk. "Edward, this ring is to die for," she said ogling her finger.

"I've already cleared it with the Beast and thank you – I helped design it," I answered her giving her yet another kiss. I couldn't get enough; I would never get enough and I wouldn't have to. "Unfortunately, I think we do need to get back; the dinner will be starting soon," I said looking down at my watch.

She considered something, probably the possibility of not going back. "Babe, you're the co-maid of honor, she'll kill you and you'll hate yourself if you ditch out on this, even if it is your engagement day," I told her.

"Engagement day!" she squeaked happily before giving me another long kiss. She looked down at my watch herself this time and groaned, "Damn you being right and damn me having a conscience otherwise the rest of the night would be playing out a _whole_ lot different: we'd be staying right here and you'd be wearing a whole lot less clothes," she said with an innocent smirk which she knew was my weakness.

"Well I suppose we don't have to get back _right_ this second…." I responded back, pulling her towards the garden.

"Nope, you're right. Besides, I want to show my fiancé off to everyone," she said pulling me towards the door. She stopped abruptly as we were halfway down the hall. "I think you know, given my answer to your question earlier, but I love you just as much. I literally cannot imagine my life without you and we both know you definitely make me a better person. You've help me grow from the immature, snobby bitch I used to be to someone other people actually like and respect and not because they fear her. That was because of you – I give you total credit for it. I'm so lucky to have you in my life and you are the love of my life as well. I love you," she said in all seriousness and gave me a tender kiss which caused her to beam ear to ear again.

Actually, I was sure that was how both of us looked – like absolute love struck fools. And I couldn't wait to spend for us to start the rest of our life together.

The End

**i wanted to say thank you to all of you for sticking with the story, it's been a pleasure to write and keep in touch with all of you. i hope you enjoyed it. **

**thank you very much to everyone who's commented, beta'd, pm'ed - basically everything. hearing your thoughts on this has meant the world to me. **

**i'm working on another story but it'll probably be a little while before anything's up - but keep your eyes posted.**

**much love - dellia54**


End file.
